Bloomberg National Bank of Kuwait, the country’s largest lender, plans to hire hundreds of people and open more branches in Saudi Arabia and Egypt as it targets growth in the Middle East’s biggest markets. NBK, as the bank is known, will open in Riyadh and Dammam by the end of next year after opening its first branch in Saudi Arabia …

Bloomberg South Korea’s goal of creating its own Goldman Sachs has stalled as big brokerages wait on approvals to raise new funds for expansion. The focus is on so-called promissory notes, short-term contracts that authorities had said brokerages might start using to raise funds to fuel their growth, as part of the government’s goal of creating a more active domestic …

Bloomberg Ignazio Visco will defend the Bank of Italy’s oversight of the country’s lenders this we- ek after a crisis that led to taxpayer-funded bailouts, losses for small investors and a damaged reputation for the financial system abroad. As a two-and-half month probe by the country’s parliament into the industry comes to an end, Visco will make his long-awaited appearance …