Citigroup Inc.'s Hong Kong unit, Citigroup Global Markets Asia Ltd., was fined HK$57 million for failing in its duties as a sponsor on Real Gold Mining Ltd.'s IPO. Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission said that Citigroup Global Markets Asia failed to conduct enough due diligence on Real Gold's customers and did not properly supervise its staff when carrying out sponsor work on the listing application.

In other banking news, some employees in Wells Fargo & Co.'s wholesale unit allegedly changed information on the documents of their corporate customers, sources for The Wall Street Journal say. The employees added social security numbers, addresses, dates of birth and other information without their customers' knowledge. The company has notified the issue to the OCC, which is looking into the matter.

Payments processor PayPal Holdings Inc. is set to buy iZettle AB, a Swedish fintech company, for $2.2 billion. The acquisition would give PayPal in-store capabilities in Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

And Pagoda Asset Management LP will shut down at the end of May following a period of lackluster returns, a source told Reuters. The New York-based hedge fund, which was launched in 2014, specialized in betting on telecom, media, technology and consumer stocks.

In other parts of the world

Asia Pacific: Hong Kong fines Citi unit; Indonesia hikes rate; ANZ to exit Cambodian JV

Europe: iZettle sold for $2.2B; Lloyds cuts Irish exposure; BPCE, Natixis post profits

Middle East & Africa: Israel Discount Bank's Q1 profit up 5.3% YOY; Egypt's central bank holds rates

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng increased 0.34% to 31,047.91, and the Nikkei 225 increased 0.40% to 22,930.36.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.17% to 7,775.10, while the Euronext 100 was up 0.10% to 1,084.48.

On the macro front

The Baker-Hughes Rig Count report is due out today.

Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

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