ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND

The boss of majority state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland urged his staff to prove the critics wrong and continue a clean-up that has cost 38 billion pounds ($60 billion) in the past three years.

Weakness in banks and commodity stocks dragged Britain's leading share index lower on Monday as the protracted search for a Greek bond deal and concerns about economic growth kept investors nervous.

HSBC Holdings PLC is under investigation by a U.S. Senate panel in a money-laundering inquiry, the latest step in a long-running U.S. effort to halt shadowy money flows through global banks, according to people familiar with the situation and a company securities filing.

David Cameron wonders if bank heads make too much in bonuses.

Aerospace group EADS batted away concerns over the financing needed to maintain a record wave of jet deliveries this year, as bumper orders from its Airbus unit and a major Japanese leasing deal provided fresh evidence of Asia's rising economic power.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (NYSE: RBS), Britain's biggest state-owned bank, has became the latest major bank to succumb to the global squeeze on financial institutions trying to juggle shareholder pressure and worsening economic prospects.

Shares in Thomas Cook India rose more than 2 percent on Thursday after a report said its UK parent has decided to sell the Indian arm to raise money to help the travel firm's troubled global operations.

Bank of America Merril Lynch's (NYSE:BAC) move to fire one-fifth of the managing directors in its Asia operations, while significant, is only the latest sign foreign banks are jumping ship on investment banking opportunities within that market.

Chinese machinery maker Shandong Heavy Industry Group on Tuesday sealed a deal to take a 75 percent stake in debt-laden Italian yachtmaker Ferretti Group, the latest in a series of Chinese acquisitions of European brands.

Samsung Electronics Co, the world's biggest technology firm by revenue and the world's No.2 handset maker, is confident of its handset shipments overtaking that of Nokia this year, its chief executive said on Monday.

With India's economic growth buckling and the rupee at an all-time low, other companies, too, are expected to struggle to meet debt obligations in the coming months.

The European Banking Authority noted banks within the 27-nation European Union need to raise €114.69 billion ($152.8 billion) by June of next year in order to meet the authority's capital requirements. That amount is €8.24 billion, or 7.18 percent, more than the supranational regulator had noted on October 30. The balance sheet apparently worsened at certain banks, most notable in Germany, Belgium and Austria.

As macroeconomic developments helped boost stock prices on the one hand, comments from central bankers, politicians and others, on the other hand, dampened the party in the equities market.

Bank stocks finished up one of the best-performing weeks of the year Friday, as a global coordinated stimulus by the world's top central bankers announced Wednesday injected some badly needed liquidity into the credit markets and signaled a willingness for future intervention if the going gets tougher.

The euro rose for a fifth straight session against the dollar on Friday, bolstered by speculation that the European Central Bank may lend to weak euro zone countries through the International Monetary Fund.

India's move to open its supermarket sector to foreign investors brought relief to its capital-starved local chains but failed to impress small-shop owners.

Seven banks that helped MF Global Holdings Ltd. sell bonds were sued by pension funds who said the bonds' offering prospectuses concealed problems that led to the futures brokerage's collapse.

The British government has agreed to sell Northern Rock, the failed mortgage lender it nationalized in 2008, to Virgin Money, the banking arm of Richard Branson's Virgin empire.

Japanese banks backed by more than $6 billion in spare cash are in talks to buy assets from European banks, sources familiar with the discussions said, as euro zone leaders try to coax foreign capital to help overcome the bloc's debt crisis.

China's imports surged in October as exports grew at their slowest rate in months, suggesting efforts to tilt the economy toward domestic demand may be offsetting the external weakness that has dragged on economic growth this year.

Royal Bank of Scotland is to further shrink its investment bank arm and cut more jobs after the euro zone debt crisis saw third quarter profits slump, hampering its turnaround.