Bloomberg UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank by market value, climbed in Milan trading after news agency Ansa reported talk of a combination with France’s Societe Generale SA. UniCredit rose as much as 5.8 percent and was up 2.5 percent at 2.35 euros as of 9:57 a.m. Societe Generale was trading 1.4 percent higher at 40.35 euros. The stock has …

  Bloomberg Russia’s biggest bank Sberbank said on Tuesday its net profits had doubled as borrowing in the country picked up after an abrupt halt last year. The country’s most popular consumer bank saw third-quarter net profits soar to 137 billion rubles ($2 billion) — a gain of 110 percent compared to the same period in 2015. The results were …

  Bloomberg French tax authorities are seeking to recover 2.2 billion euros of tax breaks given to Societe Generale following massive losses due to “rogue trader” Jerome Kerviel’s recklessness, Les Echos newspaper said. In September an appeals court in Versailles, west of Paris, decided that the French banking giant was mostly to blame for ex-trader Kerviel losing 4.9 billion euros …