Western Europe

UniCredit lifer and top Italian speaker to step down as number two; Khayat and Bisagni take wider commercial roles as Burton becomes CIB head.

Its 2018 results look bad, but the bank insists it is still on track for success.

A recent criminal trial in London has revealed how banking negligence enabled a multi-million dollar fraud at the now defunct oil company Afren. Read on for a guide to Olivier Holmey’s feature in the February issue of Euromoney examining the errors made and what the financial sector can learn from them.

A string of due-diligence shortcomings enabled the international fraud that sapped investor confidence in once-booming London-listed oil firm Afren – and has also now led to jail time for its two top executives. What lessons can the banking industry learn from the failings laid bare in the court proceedings?

The ability of AI to help retail FX brokers is quickly moving from the theoretical to the practical; the result should be better operational efficiency and better trader services.

Branch closures in the name of digitalization, on top of wider woes in the retail sector, could exacerbate the kind of community breakdown that led to Brexit.

CEO says bank liquidity and lavish social spending hamper capital markets development.

Harsher-than-expected 100% coverage deadlines; no ‘significant’ impact on capital, insist banks.

A new strong customer authentication (SCA) regulation being introduced in September will change the payments landscape for online merchants amid a race for the most frictionless customer experience.

Greenfield start-ups embedded within the core business might be the best way for banks to address their legacy infrastructure problem.

The operators of FX platforms deny that credit management has failed to keep pace with the development of automated trading – but they do acknowledge that the process could be more efficient.

Berlin alone cannot change the costly quirks of Germany’s state-owned corporate banks.

The rules of engagement between incumbents and fintech suppliers of new products, which banks then white-label to their customers, need review.

Having tested HSBC FX Everywhere on internal payments, the bank now aims to provide it as a platform service to clients.

Restructuring shows vulnerability of highly indebted firms as cycle turns.

Spanish-based group will struggle to overcome fall-out of recruitment U-turn, while Orcel’s situation raises broader questions for banks’ hiring and compensation strategies.

Banco Santander’s board has botched the appointment of the bank's next CEO in the clumsiest way possible.

The regulator's conclusions could be announced within the next two weeks.

Aggressive accounting is as old as balance sheets, so why are we always surprised when inaccurate or bad-faith accounting causes companies to falter or even fail? Why is the dark side of accounting so hard to illuminate?

After a good result in its core areas, Barclays is setting its sights firmly on a better future for its investment bank in Europe.

Bullish chief executive is still struggling to convince the markets that his plan will work in the long term

The political tune of 2018 was not to UniCredit’s taste. Chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier needs a different rhythm to bring back the party spirit.

The bank is delivering a strategy for the post-crisis world. So why aren’t investors giving it more credit?

It’s growing in areas such as equity derivatives, Africa and digital banking. But is this enough to make up for the poor performance in French retail banking?

New investigations into the troubled bank evoke bad memories.

With conditions far from helpful, the French bank has a lot riding on initiatives designed to grow its corporate and institutional bank

New chief executive John Flint has bought himself some breathing room to deliver the bank’s return-to-growth mode

Investors will be watching closely for indications of what Andrea Orcel will do as chief executive.

The culture is changed and numbers are solid, but return on equity isn’t going to budge without progress on costs.

As Carlos Torres Vila and Onur Genc take over, BBVA’s markets may still surprise more than its strategy.