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“The real big issue going forward here will be the success of Spain and Italy… the good news is we’ve got some very reformist governments in both countries.”
Outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick commenting on the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis.



The following are notes from our Monday morning meeting.


Greece will set aside €50b ($67.31b) to recapitalise domestic banks after its debt-restructuring bond swap, part of Eurozone’s second, €130b ($173b) bailout package.

Wells Fargo is acquiring BNP Paribas’ $9.5b energy lending portfolio in North America, the latest of its moves to buy from shrinking European banks.

Lloyds Banking Group will claw back around £2m ($3.2m) of 2010 bonus payments from 13 directors over mis-selling insurances, becoming the first UK bank to strip executives of bonuses.

Dubai lender Emirates NBD is close to debut the region’s first renminbi-denominated bond, having picked HSBC, Standard Chartered and ENBD Capital to arrange investor meetings.

The Libyan government is currently amending its financial regulations, including Islamic banking rules which will allow an upcoming product launch by the Libyan Foreign Bank.

Bank of America will add up to five more branches in China over the next years to accelerate its regional expansion amid asset sales and job cuts elsewhere.

HSBC will exit retail banking in Japan, further reducing its regional presence after selling its private banking arm to Credit Suisse in December 2011.

Japan’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has officially opened a representative office in Phnom Penh, rebuilding its Cambodian presence since its branch closure in 1967.

Citigroup has sold its 145.3 million shares in India’s HDFC for $1.9b, following Temasek Holdings’ divestment in ICICI earlier this month.

Fitch has cut ratings of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank from double A to double A minus over higher funding costs.