Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd. rose the most in five months after first-half profit from continuing operations at Africa’s largest lender by assets climbed, boosted by higher interest rates in its home market that lifted income, and as fees from the rest of the continent increased. The stock led advances on the six-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index, rising 5.5 …

  Bloomberg Azerbaijan’s banking regulator gave the country’s lenders a month to draw up plans to end what it described as chronic violations of prudential norms, promising to clamp down on those failing to meet requirements, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. After 10 of 43 banks were already culled this year, the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority said in …

  Bloomberg A potential headache for the European Central Bank is turning out to be a boon for holders of Germany’s negative-yielding bonds. For ECB officials looking for ways to avert a potential shortage of securities to acquire for their asset-purchase program, the publication of Germany’s draft budget Wednesday showing an almost 11 percent drop in planned borrowing wouldn’t have …