S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week.
Brexit moves
* More than a dozen of U.S.-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s London-based banking, sales and trading employees are on notice to move to Frankfurt within weeks, in light of Brexit, sources told Reuters.
* Standard Chartered Plc CFO Andy Halford said the U.K.-based lender has begun interviewing candidates for 20 banking jobs that it will relocate to Frankfurt because of the U.K.'s exit from the EU, Reuters reported.
* Switzerland's UBS Group AG said it will move most of those staff who will relocate in light of Brexit to Frankfurt, but other relocations will depend on where clients are, Reuters reported.
* Financial services firm Euroclear Plc confirmed plans to shift its holding company to Brussels from London as Brexit looms.
Regulatory actions
* Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc reached a $500 million settlement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over claims of mis-selling residential mortgage-backed securities ahead of the global financial crisis. The bank is yet to settle an RMBS mis-selling case with the U.S. Department of Justice.
* Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Board terminated a cease and desist order against the bank. The July 2011 action had required RBS to strengthen management oversight and improve anti-money laundering compliance.
* The U.K. government launched a new independent review into the prudential supervision of Co-operative Bank Plc between 2008 and 2013. The bank came close to collapse in 2013 as it took losses from soured real estate loans. Meanwhile regulators banned former Co-op Bank Chairman Paul Flowers from working in the financial services industry.
* The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority fined former Deutsche Bank AG trader Guillaume Adolph £180,000 and banned him from carrying out any regulated financial activity in the country for his role in manipulating the benchmark interest rates.
* The Spanish High Court is suspending litigation against the country's Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, or FROB, over the resolution of Banco Popular Español SA, pending rulings by the European Court of Justice. Banco Santander bought Popular for a symbolic €1 after the ECB deemed that it was "failing or likely to fail." The wind-up has been the subject of many lawsuits.
* U.S-based BlackRock Inc., billionaire investor George Soros and major sovereign wealth funds expressed interest in the IPO of Deutsche Bank AG's DWS asset management division.
* Standard Chartered CFO Andy Halford said the U.K.-based lender has reached a provisional agreement with private equity firm Actis LLP over the sale of the bank's real estate investment unit, Reuters reported.
* London Capital Group Holdings Plc and wholly owned subsidiary Tradex inked a conditional agreement to sell 91.5% of unit London Capital Group Ltd.'s entire issued share capital and 100% of the issued share capital of subsidiaries held by LCG Holdings and/or Tradex to SLCG International.
* Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA finalized the acquisition of 69% of RAM Active Investments SA, a Swiss alternative investment manager.
* The board of directors of Norway-based bank SpareBank 1 Telemark decided to explore a potential IPO and is expected to decide on an application for listing on Oslo Børs in the second half depending on market conditions.
In other news
* Crédit Mutuel Group's 2017 net profit dropped 6.8% to €3.05 billion on an exceptional tax charge as it called on a breakaway regional bank, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa SACC, to carry out a fair and open process in its efforts to split from the Crédit Mutuel parent group.
* British digital lender Atom Bank Plc raised £149 million in its latest fundraising round, which includes further capital injections by Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA and U.K.-based Toscafund Asset Management LLP.
* The Central Bank of the Russian Federation will inject 56.9 billion Russian ruble into B&N Bank via the purchase of additional shares to be issued by the latter.
* Julius Bär Gruppe AG signed an agreement to establish a joint venture with Siam Commercial Bank PCL in a bid to enter the wealth management market in Thailand.
Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence
* UK bank investors eye long-term value amid ongoing legal woes: Three of the U.K.'s "big four" banks have major unresolved fines or allegations of misconduct hanging over them, but investors have their eye on long-term value.
* EU to consider easing capital rules for banks with 'green' investments: The EU will look into lowering capital charges for banks with eco-friendly investments as it works to establish a clear classification system for "green" activities.
* Radical shift in Italian poll raises doubts about banks: "Italy is far from having sorted its long-standing problems, and now it will have new ones. Be prepared for long and complex negotiations," said Lorenzo Codogno, professor of finance at the London School of Economics and ex-Italian Treasury official.
