Starting October, brokers using the stock exchange platform of IEX Group Inc. will be charged $100 for every additional port they use on top of the first five free ports they avail, the Financial Times reports, citing a regulatory filing. IEX CEO Brad Katsuyama said the new fee structure will help the exchange operator to recoup at most $960,000 to $1.5 million that it spends annually to support the logical ports and encourage brokers to maximize their use of the ports.

Stifel Financial Corp. agreed to acquire certain assets of George K. Baum & Co. in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Danske Bank A/S' request to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed by investors in its American depository receipts for allegedly ignoring clear signs of laundering and misrepresenting risks to the public, Bloomberg News reported. The Copenhagen-based bank was under probe in the U.S. and in Europe and investors demanded to be compensated for the share price slump that followed a money-laundering scandal the bank had figured in.

OceanFirst Financial Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Christopher Maher expects the Toms River, N.J.-based bank to cross the $10 billion asset threshold by the first quarter of 2021 yet, after two recent acquisitions that have put the bank just under that mark. Maher spoke after OceanFirst announced its planned acquisition of New Jersey-based Two River Bancorp and New York-based Country Bank Holding Co. Inc. in deals expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. Both transactions will put the bank's assets at roughly $9.9 billion, up from just about $8 billion in the second quarter.

Investors Bancorp Inc.'s recently announced deal to acquire the $563 million-asset Gold Coast Bancorp Inc. in Islandia, N.Y., is a message to its investors that the bank has put its Bank Secrecy Act complianceissue in 2016 behind and is moving on, Investors Chairman and CEO Kevin Cummings told American Banker in an interview. The interview with Kummings has put to rest speculations that Investors was set to sell itself because of its rough past, the news outlet noted.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to sign a bill that would make it easier for more cash-strapped farmers to settle their bank debts, something that is expected to result in tighter credit terms and higher borrowing costs at small and midsize banks that do the bulk of lending to farmers, American Bankers reports. The Senate recently approved the Family Farmer Relief Act, which raises the maximum amount of debt a farm can have to $10 million from $4.3 million to file for Chapter 12 bankruptcy petition. Such filing requires an application fee of just about $275, compared with Chapter 11, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, the news outlet pointed out, citing Lynn Paulson, director of agribusiness development at Bell Bank in Fargo, N.D.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting is set to limit the availment of the Community Reinvestment Act credit to only low-income borrowers living in low- to moderate-income areas, American Banker reports. The planned move aims to resolve the issue of banks getting CRA credit for originating mortgages to medium-to-high income people who just happen to live in a low- to middle- income neighborhood, the news outlet quotes Otting as saying.

In other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: HSBC Greater China chief quits; 400,000 NAB customers eligible for class action

Europe: Rose said to take RBS helm; UK eyes bailout fund; Salvini denies euro exit plan

Middle East & Africa: KCB bets on South Sudan; S&P lifts Rwanda; Mozambique's debt scandal crackdown

Now featured on S&P Global Market Intelligence

Mastercard 'cements' real-time payments strategy with largest-ever deal: With the recent acquisition of most corporate service businesses of European payments technology firm Nets, Mastercard "cements its multi-rail strategy" as it looks to expand its instant-payment and electronic billing solutions for account-to-account payments, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Daniel Perlin.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng was down 0.44% to 25,824.72, and the Nikkei 225 gained 0.44% to 20,684.82.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.45% to 7,221.15, and the Euronext 100 fell 0.34% to 1,034.76.

On the macro front

The Treasury budget 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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