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SocGen eyeing unit sale; Carige rescue plan approved; ECB bad-loan extension

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SocGen eyeing unit sale; Carige rescue plan approved; ECB bad-loan extension

S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week.

Potential transactions

* French lender Société Générale SA is weighing options for its Lyxor Asset Management SAS unit, including a potential sale or merger.

* Italian bank UniCredit SpA is seeking interest from potential buyers for a portfolio of up to €1 billion in unlikely-to-pay small-ticket corporate loans.

* HSBC Holdings PLC could launch a bid for the Asian operations that Aviva PLC might sell.

Regulatory watch

* Norwegian market regulator Finanstilsynet found shortfalls in DNB ASA's compliance with anti-money laundering rules during an inspection toward the end of 2018.

* The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposed a fine of more than $16 million on Deutsche Bank AG in connection with the alleged unlawful hiring process at the German lender.

* France's BNP Paribas SA and U.S.-based Citigroup Inc. were mentioned in the 13-count indictment brought by the U.S. against Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is facing charges of wire fraud and breaking sanctions against Iran. The two banks are reportedly among at least four financial groups that had banking relationships with Huawei.

* Standard Chartered PLC was notified by the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation that the regulator plans to impose a penalty of more than £10 million on the bank over failure to prevent sanctions breaches.

* SocGen and three other companies were ordered to participate in Germany's first trial related to the so-called cum-ex deals, Bloomberg News reported.

Capital boost

* Banca Carige SpA will seek shareholder approval at an extraordinary meeting on Sept. 20 for its planned capital increase, which is part of its €900 million rescue plan. The rescue plan includes a share capital increase of €700 million and an issuance of €200 million of new subordinated bonds, as well as a full-scale disposal of €3.1 billion of nonperforming loans. The ECB cleared the rescue plan in the week of Aug. 12.

* State Development Corp. VEB.RF will get a 173 billion Russian rubles capital boost from transactions accompanying the upcoming transfer of its unit Interregional Bank for Settlements of the Telecommunications & Postal Services, or Sviaz-Bank, to PAO Promsvyazbank.

Game plans

* Russia-based JSC Alfa-Bank is looking to set up a Cypriot unit to carry out corporate investment business in foreign capital markets. The new unit will be called Alfa Capital Markets Ltd. and the preparatory work for its launch is expected to take at least one year.

* Commerzbank AG plans to shutter at least 100 to 200 branches in its 1,000-outlet network in Germany as part of its broader strategic review.

* Danske Bank A/S is cutting the number of job titles at the bank to about 400 from roughly 3,600 in an attempt to make the company's organization more transparent.

In other news

* The ECB revised its supervisory expectations for banks' provisioning for new nonperforming exposures. Banks will now have three years to set aside provisions against unsecured NPEs, nine years for real estate-backed NPEs and seven years for other secured NPEs.

* Jyske Bank A/S' second quarter group net profit attributable to shareholders fell year over year to 459 million Danish kroner from 780 million kroner a year ago.

* Edward Bramson, the shareholder activist, is still trying to get Barclays PLC to implement a restructuring, months after he lost his bid to secure a seat on the bank's board.

* Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has not informed some 1,600 affected customers that their highly sensitive personal data had been in the possession of a former employee of unit National Westminster Bank PLC since her dismissal in June 2009, according to The Times.

Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence

Spanish, US banks most exposed to crisis-stricken Argentina: Spanish lenders show the highest exposure to Argentina, followed by U.S. banks. However, the exposure has decreased since last year, data from the Bank for International Settlements shows.

British banks see sharp rise in profits but Brexit troubles loom, says DBRS: Major U.K. banks turned in strong statutory profits in the first half of 2019, the rating agency said, but it warned of headwinds ahead as the deadline for Britain to quit the EU approaches.