Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank (AUB) has strengthened its role as a major player in the Gulf by acquiring a majority stake in the Bank of Kuwait & the Middle East (BKME), the seventh largest bank in Kuwait.

Argentina’s National Securities Commission (NSC) has launched an official investigation into 30.9m pesos ($11.3m) of bonus payments made in 2005 to directors of Banco Hipotecario, one of the main mortgage lenders in the country.

Bankers and journalists were busy in August speculating on the future of the Bank of Italy, the Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI, until recently Banca Popolare di Lodi), the Banca Antoniana Popolare Veneta (Antonveneta) and the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL).

Dublin’s aspirations of becoming a major European centre for the issuance of covered bonds have been dealt a heavy blow by two German banks.

After months of negotiations, Vienna-based Raiffeisen International (RI) has signed a landmark purchase agreement to acquire a 93.5% stake in Ukraine’s second largest bank, Bank Aval.
The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval in Ukraine and Austria, adds significantly to RI’s existing banking assets in Ukraine and reflects its pioneering style in central and eastern Europe.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the sixth largest bank in the world by Tier 1 capital in The Banker’s Top 1000, has spent $1.6bn on 5% of state-owned Bank of China.

Bill Postgate points out that failing to investigate the remittance business is a missed opportunity.

The software behemoth’s purchase of core banking systems provider i-flex is a vote of confidence in a fast-growing sector.

Investors should not ignore the fact that Japan’s economic recovery is finely balanced, with high oil prices and a shrinking population among the problems that must be addressed sooner or later.

Bold deals, such as Royal Bank of Scotland’s 5% stake in Bank of China, show that the sector’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well – and that flare is often needed to overcome shareholder timidity.