Bloomberg Italian bank UniCredit SpA is considering a merger with France’s Societe Generale SA, a move that would combine two of Europe’s largest financial institutions, the Financial Times reported. UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier, who is French and once worked for SocGen, has been developing the idea for several months, the FT said, citing people close to the …

Bloomberg Commonwealth Bank of Australia has agreed to pay the biggest civil penalty in Australian corporate history, after admitting to more than 53,000 money-laundering law breaches that allowed drug syndicates to funnel millions of dollars offshore. The nation’s largest lender will pay A$700 million ($530 million) to bring to an end the 10-month saga, which led to the departure of …

Bloomberg Indian lenders are raising interest rates even before any central bank action as the strongest loan demand in four years amid weak deposit growth pressures funding costs. State Bank of India, ICICI Bank Ltd. and Punjab National Bank are among the nation’s biggest banks that increased their benchmark lending rates last week. The Reserve Bank of India, on the …