Basel urged to avoiddisproportionate reforms: EU finance ministers said yesterday that anindustry reform package planned by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervisionshould not disproportionately hit European banks with higher capitalrequirements, accordingto Reuters. European Banking Federation head Wim Mijs said the Eurogroup'sresponse was "still far too lackluster."

* The heads of six major U.S. banksreceived an average of $20.7 million in 2015, compared to just $10.4 million onaverage for the chiefs of 11 big European lenders, according to an analysis bycompensation firm Equilar and the Financial Times.

* European Ombudsman EmilyO'Reilly called on the European Commission to strengthenrules governing work undertaken by EC presidents and former commissioners afterleaving office, following former EC President José Manuel Barroso's appointmentas nonexecutive chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit Goldman SachsInternational. O'Reilly called on the EC to revise its code of conduct andinclude sanctions current or former commissioners found in breach ofobligations.

* Global natural catastrophe losses $70 billion in the first half,up from $59 billion in the year-ago period, according to . Insured losses amounted to$27 billion, up from $19 billion in the first half of 2015. Overall losses fromthe storms in Europe reached $6.1 billion, of which $3 billion were insured. 

UK AND IRELAND

Carney deniesintervention in US decision on HSBC: Bank of England Governor Mark Carneyyesterday defended criticism against the central bank for flagging the risks ofBrexit prior to the EU referendum, saying its warnings were based on"analysis and robust debate," TheDaily Telegraph reports.Speaking before British lawmakers, Carney also said the BoE did not intervenewith the U.S. Department of Justice in the latter's 2012 decision not toprosecute HSBC HoldingsPlc for money-laundering violations, Reuters writes.

* Investors and economists expect the Bank of England tobegin buying corporate bonds in a bid to cushion the negative impact of theU.K.'s Brexit vote to the economy, the FinancialTimes reports.

* The retrial for former Barclays Plc traders Stylianos Contogoulas and RyanReich for LIBOR-rigging allegations was set Feb. 13, 2017, City A.M. reports.The U.K. Serious Fraud Office sought a retrial for the two after the jury inthe first trial failed to reach a verdict.

* Suspended U.K. property funds are beginning to offloadcertain assets in a bid to provide liquidity to investors, with 's HendersonGlobal Investors planning to sell Coutts & Co.'s headquarters at 440 Strand in London,the Financial Times reports.

* Minutes of the Bank of England Financial PolicyCommittee's meetings from June 28 to July 1 showed that the U.K. FinancialConduct Authority had briefed the FPC about the possibility that some propertyfunds could be suspended following the Brexit vote, City A.M. reports.

* ICAPPlc today reported a year-over-year increase in group revenuefrom continuing operations for the period from April 1 to June 30. The companynoted that the proposed sale of its global hybrid voice/brokingand information business to Tullett Prebon Plc remains on track to completelater this year.

* The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority received a record1,831 suspicious transaction reports from financial services firms in 2015,compared to 1,626 reports a year ago, TheDaily Telegraph reports.Of the 2015 reports, 214 were about suspected distortion or manipulation ofmarkets.

* The aggregate deficit across 5,945 defined benefit pensionschemes in the U.K. amounted to £383.6 billion at June-end, up from £294.6billion a month ago, City A.M. writes,citing data from the Pension Protection Fund.

GERMANY, SWITZERLANDAND AUSTRIA

Deutsche Bank eyespurchase of RBS shipping portfolio: Deutsche Bank AG is considering acquiring part of or theentirety of Royal Bank ofScotland Group Plc's $3 billion Greek shipping portfolio, Sky News reports.The development comes in the wake of speculation that Deutsche Bank was mullingselling $1 billion in shipping loans to strengthen its capital.

* Austria agreed to reduce the bank levy to €100 millionannually starting from 2017 from the current €550 million per year, DiePresse writes.In return, the banks will have to make a collective one-time payment of €1billion into the country's education budget.

* Austrian province Carinthia liquidated its sovereign"future fund" to free up €400 million and cover part of the €1.2billion that the province has to contribute to repayments for creditors ofHeta Asset ResolutionAG, Der Standard reports.The rest will be funded by regular provisions made from the province's budgetand through long-term loans.

* Andrea Orcel, president of 's investment bankingdivision, tellsBloomberg TV that the bank isconsidering moving some of its London-based staff to a country within the EU.

* Close to 40% of shares of were alreadytendered by shareholders to convert them to shares of incase the planned merger goes through, Börsen-Zeitung reports.

FRANCE AND BENELUX

Frenchreinsurers brace for tough 2016: Reinsurers are preparing for a tough yearas the cost of floods and storms in France in the first six months of the yearis equivalent to that for the whole of 2015, Les Echos reports.

* A trial date could be set in September for UBS AG and UBSFrance over money laundering, tax fraud and illegal selling charges, Les Echos writes.HSBC Holdings Plc, whose Swiss branch also faces money laundering and illegalbanking activity charges, may also join the trial list.

* Crédit AgricoleSA CEO Philippe Brassac will succeed CEO Frédéric Oudéaas president of French banking lobby group FBF, Reuters reports.Brassac will begin his one-year term Sept. 1.

* Monaco yesterday signed an agreement with the EU over theautomatic transmission of bank account details of EU citizens from 2018, Le Figaro writes.

* The Brexit vote will hit the Belgianeconomy the hardest after Ireland, DeTijd writes,citing a Moody's report. About 7.7% of Belgium's GDP depends on exports to theU.K., which is almost double that of the average eurozone country.

* Belgium'sspeculation tax more than halved small cap trading volumes in the first sixmonths of the year, Euronext Brussels CEO Vincent Van Dessel tellsDe Tijd. Trading in the Bel SmallIndex was cut by 56% after private investors were hit by a 33% speculation taxon capital gains on securities sold less than six months before the date oftransfer.

*BNP Paribas Fortis SAappointed Koen De Leus chief economist after Peter De Keyzer left to start acommunications consultancy, De Tijd reports.A date for De Leus' departure from KBC Group NV, where he has been senior economist since2012, has not been set yet.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Merger of 2 Banco BPI units proposed: shareholder ViolasFerreira suggested merging Bancode Fomento Angola SA and Banco Caixa Geral Angola SA to reduce Banco BPI'sexposure to Angola. A deal like that could mean an end to 's takeover bid for BPI, Jornal de Negócios notes.

* Portugal's central bank namedAntónio Ramalho head of NovoBanco SA, replacing Eduardo Stock da Cunha. Económico notesthat Ramalho is currently the president of the Administration andInfrastructure Council of Portugal.

* The European Commission decidedto start sanctions procedures against Spain and Portugal for breaching spendingrules. Both countries are said to be not "making enough effort" tocut budget deficit, Jornal de Notícias reports.Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said the government will appeal thedecision.

* BancoSantander SA and Bancode Sabadell SA said they had set aside provisions to cover exchangerate risks arising from the Brexit vote, thus safeguarding their upcomingsecond-quarter results, Expansión writes.

ITALY AND GREECE

UniCreditraises €1B from sales of stakes in 2 units: completed the of about 10.0% of Polishunit Bank Pekao SA'sexisting share capital, raising gross proceeds of roughly €749 million. Itfollows the completion of UniCredit's divestment of an up to 10%stake in unit FinecoBankSpA, the gross proceeds of which amounted to approximately €328million.

* JPMorgan is expected to manage the planned securitizationof at least €10billion of Banca Monte dei Paschidi Siena SpA nonperforming loans, MF says.The aim is to close a deal ahead of the release of stress test results, whichis expected on July 29.

* Gross Italian NPLs rose to €199.99 billion in May from €198.35 billion in April while net NPLs increased to €84.95 billion from €83.96 billion, Reuters reports,citing Bank of Italy data.

* Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said yesterdaythat the Italian banking system is "solid and has only a very few specificcritical situations," adding that the bad loans and recapitalization needsof Italian banks were "completely distorted," Reuters writes.His German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, meanwhile, said hedoes not see a looming danger of a European banking crisis.

* German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Finance MinisterPier Carlo Padoan and other European leaders expressed confidence that asolution to the troubles of Italy's banking sector could be found within theframework of current rules, Bloomberg News writes.

* Meanwhile, Greekbanks have committed to reducing their NPLs, which for the four systemic banksmeans reducing it to €67 billion from €108 billion by 2019, Kerdos writes.Under a strategic plan approved by supervisory authorities for each bank, mostNPLs will be restructured to make them viable.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

Lower DNB Q2 profit drives panicselling: Panicselling by investors in DNBASA stock caused the Oslo Stock Exchange's main index to end 0.45%lower yesterday, e24.no reports.It comes after the lender reported a decline in second-quarter net profit.

* Danishpension companies are holding back on investing in unlisted Danish companies, Berlingske Tidende notes.The reluctance is linked to a number of high profile bad investments,particularly with new technology start-ups.

EASTERN EUROPE

PZU to weigh purchase of 2foreign-controlled banks: PZU SA isinvolved in increasing the share of Polish firms in the Polish banking sectorand will look into the possibility of purchasing and Pekao,news agency PAP reports, citing PZU CEO Michal Krupinski.

* UniCredit, whoseholding in Pekao now amounts to 40.1%, could further reduce the stake in thefuture, but would not bring it to below 33%, which could complicate the Polishgovernment's  plan to reduce foreignbanks' control of the local banking sector, PulsBiznesu writes.Bloomberg News also reports.

* PJSC BankALEKSANDROVSK shareholders approved the company's integration withSMB Bank, Vedomosti reports.The merger will be carried out via the conversion of SMB Bank shares intoAleksandrovsky shares. The merged lender will have capital of around 2 billion Russianrubles.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THEWORLD

Asia-Pacific:

Middle East and Africa:

Latin America: Banco do Brasil looks to end partnership with Brazil's postalservice

North America: DOJ reportedly rushed HSBC deal; Venezuela's president rants againstCiti

North America Insurance: Obama calls for ACA public plan option; H1 natural catastrophelosses hit $70B

NOW FEATURED ONS&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Italybank bailout may strain Europe's bail-in rules in first big test:Italy wants to spend €40 billion bailing out its banks, without bailing inbondholders, raising questions about Europe's new bail-in law.

Offshorelosses hit DNB ASA hard: Oslo-based DNB's second-quarter figureswere marred by soaring loan losses related to the offshore oil industry.

Tryg execsawait boost from premium hikes: Executives of the Danish insurersaid the positive effect of price increases is likely to be delayed.

Britain'sincoming PM: Tough stance on Brexit, bonuses and employeerepresentation: "Brexit is Brexit," the U.K.'s incoming, originallypro-Remain, prime minister has said. Theresa May also promised to get tough onirresponsible behavior in big business.

Sheryl Gesto-Obejera,Arno Maierbrugger, Brian McCulloch, Danielle Rossingh, Praxilla Trabattoni, MarianaAldano, Heather O'Brian, Mike Hatzidakis, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik and AliKayalar contributed to this report.

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