* An agreement by National Bank of Greece SA to sell 75% of wholly owned insurance unit Ethniki Hellenic General Insurance Co. SA to a consortium of U.S. firm Calamos Investments LLC and Netherlands-based EXIN Financial Services Holding BV is in doubt, following a legal row between the two buyers. Calamos Family Partners sued EXIN for defaulting on loans and is seeking immediate repayment from the Dutch firm of more than $41 million in principal, plus interest, under a series of loan agreements that were payable Dec. 31, 2017.
UK AND IRELAND
* EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned that any relationship between the bloc and the U.K. must "respect EU regulatory autonomy" on financial services post-Brexit, Reuters wrote.
* U.K. Financial Conduct Authority head Andrew Bailey said the regulator is seeking to identify whether "sensible adjustments" can be made to its proposed reform of stock market listing rules that will allow sovereign-controlled firms such as Saudi Aramco to list on the stock market in London, Reuters wrote.
* U.K. Treasury Select Committee Chair Nicky Morgan gave the Financial Conduct Authority until Feb. 16 to furnish the full report into how Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Talanx AG reported provisional full-year 2017 consolidated group net income of around €670 million, down from the year-ago €907 million but higher than its profit outlook of around €650 million. The group-wide net large loss burden was €1.6 billion, compared to the year-ago €900 million, driven by "exceptionally high" losses from natural catastrophes.
* Commerzbank AG reported fourth-quarter 2017 preliminary operating profit of €159 million, down from €337 million in the year-ago period. For the 2017 full year, preliminary operating profit reached €1.30 billion, compared to the year-ago €1.40 billion.
* Zurich Insurance Group AG said it is on track to deliver on its 2017-2019 targets despite net income attributable to shareholders falling to $3.00 billion in 2017 from $3.21 billion in 2016.
* German reinsurer Munich Re Co. is planning to cut jobs at its headquarters and in the U.S. to increase efficiency and reduce internal complexity, Reuters reported, citing a transcript of an interview with CEO Joachim Wenning published on the company's intranet. A source at Munich Re told the newswire that the number of job cuts would be a high three-digit figure but should be well below 10% of staff in the affected groups.
* Santander Consumer Bank AG has tapped supervisory board member Vito Volpe to succeed CEO Ulrich Leuschner, who is stepping down for personal reasons March 1, Reuters reported. Volpe has worked for Santander Group for the past five years.
* Bremer Kreditbank AG has become the new majority shareholder of Oldenburgische Landesbank AG after obtaining required regulatory approvals. Bremer Kreditbank currently holds some 95.3% of the shares in Oldenburgische Landesbank.
* Swiss Re AG is in preliminary discussions with Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. regarding a potential minority investment in Swiss Re. Discussions are at a very early stage and there is no certainty that any deal will be reached. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that SoftBank is eyeing a stake in Swiss Re that could be worth $10 billion or more.
FRANCE AND BENELUX
* Société Générale SA posted fourth-quarter 2017 group net income adjusted for revaluation of own financial liabilities and debt value adjustment on derivative instruments of €3 million, a sharp fall from €421 million in the year-ago period. Adjusted net banking income increased to €6.23 billion in the quarter from €6.18 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016.
* Rabobank NA, the California-based subsidiary of Dutch lender Rabobank, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by actively concealing deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program. Rabobank will forfeit $368.7 million to resolve the matter, and will also pay a $50 million civil money penalty to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
* ING België NV has delayed the integration of subsidiary Record Bank SA into its own network by at least a month, De Tijd reported. ING agreed to a restructuring in 2016 under which it decided to keep only around 50 of Record Bank's 536 branches.
* Natixis is cutting its exposure to Steinhoff International Holdings NV by auctioning at least €150 million of debt owed by the troubled South African retailer, insiders told Bloomberg News.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
* The ECB will not publish data deleted from a highly controversial report on the valuation of failed Spanish bank Banco Popular Español SA for reasons of confidentiality. Sabine Lautenschläger, vice chair of the ECB's supervisory board, said the extraordinary liquidity lines to which the bank had access were the exclusive responsibility of Spanish national authorities, meaning that access to financing of last resort for the bank was a matter between the Bank of Spain and the entity itself.
* Bankia SA has agreed to reduce the number of jobs it will cut to just over 2,000 from 2,291 as part of ongoing labor force reduction negotiations, Europa Press reports. Around 11.5% of Bankia's total employees will be affected.
ITALY AND GREECE
* UniCredit SpA reported fourth-quarter 2017 adjusted net profit of €708 million, compared to an adjusted net loss of €352 million in the year-ago period. For full-year 2017, adjusted net profit came in at €3.71 billion, up from an adjusted net profit of €1.30 billion in 2016.
* Banco BPM SpA reported full-year 2017 net income of €558 million, compared to a net loss of €1.61 billion a year earlier. The result included the sale of the bank's entire stake in Aletti Gestielle SGR SpA,
* Banco BPM SpA and Anima Holding reached an agreement related to the transfer of mandates for the management of assets underlying insurance products, for a cash consideration of €120 million, Reuters wrote. The deal foresees the start of a new 20-years strategic alliance between the two companies in the insurance sector.
* UniCredit SpA will present its own list of board candidates to shareholders at a meeting set for April, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The list includes the names of Fabrizio Saccomanni as chairman and Jean-Pierre Mustier as CEO.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Iceland's central bank decided to maintain its key interest rate at 4.25%, saying that a tight monetary stance is required to contain rapid domestic demand growth.
* Sampo Oyj plans to accelerate its pace of digitalization and use technological innovation to attract younger customers, Helsingin Sanomat reported, citing CEO Kari Stadigh.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Romania's central bank raised its monetary policy rate to 2.25% from 2.00%, citing rising inflation. The central bank also raised its deposit facility rate to 1.25% from 1.00%.
* Albania's central bank kept its monetary policy rate unchanged at 1.25%.
* Russian businessman and member of parliament Suleiman Kerimov is in negotiations to purchase a majority stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank from brothers Dmitry and Alexei Ananyev, Reuters reported. Kommersant noted that Russia's central bank is unlikely to accept Kerimov as Vozrozhdenie's new owner as the businessman is under investigation by French prosecutors for tax fraud.
* JSC VTB Bank's supervisory board appointed Andrey Puchkov first deputy chairman of the management board, responsible for legal and administrative divisions as well as working with the group's noncore and problem assets, Vedomosti said.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Middle East & Africa: QNB secures $3.5B syndicated loan; Moody's places Angola on review for downgrade
Latin America: Galicia divestment deal completed; BB Seguridade, Mapfre agree to redraw JV
North America: California treasurer wants 4 Wells directors gone
North America Insurance: Canada's Manulife may sell US assets; Genworth renews deal application
NOW FEATURED ON S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Prepare for hard Brexit, ECB warns banks: Banks wanting to relocate operations from the U.K. into the eurozone must submit license applications by the end of the second quarter, ECB supervisors said, warning that there can be no guarantee that a post-Brexit transition period will be agreed.
Large and small reinsurers gain business as mid-tier stagnates, says Hannover Re: Hannover Re board member Jürgen Gräber told analysts on an earnings call that there is a flight to quality because of larger companies' service and ratings.
ABN AMRO takes smaller than expected capital hit from Basel III, CFO says: The mortgage-focused Dutch lender will take a 450-basis-point hit to its common equity Tier 1 ratio as a result of the finalization of Basel III rules, which is better than it had initially expected but still significant, CFO Clifford Abrahams said.
Handelsbanken takes a hit from Carillion losses: The Swedish lender is the latest bank to take a hit from the collapse of Carillion, after its U.K. unit booked a 556 million loss from a "single client," group CFO Rolf Marquardt told analysts during a full-year 2017 earnings call.
Atif Hussein, Ed Meza, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Stephanie Salti, Praxilla Trabattoni and Helen Popper contributed to this report.
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