Banking News

NASDAQ listed BancFirst Corporation is to buy Exchange Bancshares of Moore, Inc., and its subsidiary bank, Exchange National Bank of Moore, the companies have announced. It's a merger of minnows.

We all know that there are several basic groups in banking: retail, corporate, merchant / investment and private. Barclays seems to think there are only two as it "re-aligns" its divisions.

UK Bank RBS aims to shrink further: the bank, majority government owned, plans to shed a further 20,000 jobs in the UK.

HSBC and Old Mutual, owners of South Africa's Nedbank have gone exclusive as HSBC asks for Nedbank's hand.

The USA alleges that Muhammad Abdallah Hasan Abu-al-Khayr is "a key leader of [al Qaeda]'s finance section." Below is the US Treasury statement in support of his designation under OFAC. Note that the UN 1267 sanctions committee has also added him to the list.

US banking holding company IBERIABANK Corporation is to merge its two financial subsdiaries.

The UK's Barclay's Bank is the latest bank to be settle US action against it for conducting business contrary to US sanctions.

Kelantan, a state under the control of Islamic political party PAS, has introduced what its senior minister Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat says is a shariah (syariah) compliant currency.

The inevitable has happened: US authorities are attacking HSBC, the bank US banks - and US politicians - most fear, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill

US banking regulators seem to be issuing a stream of pats on the knee accompanied by "never mind then, it'll be all right" messages. First it was the wind, then it was a little bit of water trouble, now it's stinky, sticky stuff that means the regulators says they will go easy on some banks. But if it's so necessary, why did it take so long to offer help to Gulf of Mexico region banks? And it's not a free-ride. They still have to prove they are safe and sound - and so are their lending decisions.