Female employees at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s U.K. subsidiary were paid 50.6% less and received 66.7% lower bonuses than their male counterparts in 2018. The recently disclosed gender pay gap was an improvement from the previous year's numbers, where women were paid 55.5% less and received 72.2% lower bonuses than their male counterparts. Goldman Sachs said the gender pay gap "does not measure whether we pay our people equally for equal work," and instead attributed the gap to the lower proportion of women in more senior and management roles. Last week, the company set targets for analysts and entry-level hires in the Americas and the U.K. in an effort to increase diversity in its workforce.

Harvey Schwartz, former president and co-COO at Goldman Sachs, has not interviewed for the CEO role at Wells Fargo & Co., CNBC reports, citing unnamed sources close to Schwartz. The report comes following recent rumors that Wells Fargo was in talks with Schwartz to hire him to replace existing CEO Timothy Sloan.

Citigroup Inc. is aiming to expand its wealth management client base in the Asia-Pacific by 10% in 2019, higher than its 8% growth in 2018, Reuters reports. The company is recruiting more client advisers and investing more in digital initiatives to help expand its footprint and take a bigger share of the wealth management business in the region.

Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended a $1.2 million fine against Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., in connection with allegations of price rigging in the 10-year Japanese government bond futures market, Bloomberg News reports. The regulator found that a trader at the Citi unit made large volumes of buy and sell orders for the futures contracts on the Osaka Exchange with no intention of executing them, leading investors into thinking the market was growing.

Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Group NV is planning to apply for a banking license in the U.S. as soon as it completes a definitive process with local watchdogs in Europe and the Netherlands, insiders told the Financial Times.

In the M&A space, Chicago-based Performance Trust Capital Partners LLC is acquiring Atlanta-based Banks Street Partners LLC, an advisory-focused investment bank primarily covering depositories in the Southeast. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, will likely add more scale to Performance Trust's investment banking business, while allowing Bank Street to expand its geographic coverage.

Mastercard Inc. will invest £300 million in the planned initial public offering in London of Dubai-based payments processor Network International LLC, Reuters reports.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said the central bank could prepare itself for an economic downturn by lowering the average maturity of Treasury securities held in its balance sheet, Bloomberg reports. Such a move would help the Fed sell shorter-term bonds to buy longer-term ones to reduce borrowing costs.

In other parts of the world

Asia Pacific: FWD completes insurer acquisition; Suncorp to sell general insurance business

Europe: ABN Amro eyes US; Mastercard's £300M payments bet; LendInvest's IPO mandates

Middle East & Africa: NBK launches French unit; Moody's affirms UAE; African Bank eyes digital push

Now featured on S&P Global Market Intelligence

Nearly half of all-time largest fintech deals announced in past 2 years: The sector appears to have a new appetite for transformative large-scale mergers that companies hope will let them tap into new geographies and business lines.

CECL reserve builds will prove inadequate, spur US bank earnings volatility: The current expected credit loss model could introduce more U.S. bank earnings volatility as institutions seem unlikely to build their allowances enough to prepare for a looming turn in the credit cycle.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.15% to 28,566.91, and the Nikkei 225 gained 2.15% to 21,428.39.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.24% to 7,194.64, and the Euronext 100 lifted 0.68% to 1,030.09.

On the macro front

The housing starts report, the Redbook index for retail sales, the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index, the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index, the consumer confidence report and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's manufacturing index are 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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