Bloomberg If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s the calculation Australia’s biggest banks and the government have made in deciding to cave in to pressure for a public inquiry into alleged misconduct in the financial industry. After months of denouncing the idea of a Royal Commission as an expensive waste of time, the big four banks staged a backflip …

Bloomberg A second daily surge in Europe’s overnight benchmark rate, which banks use to provide loans to one another, sparked widespread speculation among traders about the trigger, though there were no signs of wider funding stress. Some traders attributed the jump in the Eonia rate to possible year-end funding squeeze at some lenders, while others pinned it down to demand …

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will close 259 more branches across Britain in its latest round of cuts as customers shift to online banking. Outlets under both the NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland brands will close in the middle of next year, resulting in about 680 job cuts, the company said. RBS said it will use the …