Doha / AFP Qatar National Bank (QNB) said it is investigating an alleged hack which potentially exposes the names and passwords of a large number of customers. Media reports claimed that a 1.4GB trove of documents has been leaked online anonymously. Among the information reportedly leaked are the bank details of several journalists working for satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera. Another folder …

Bloomberg Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest bank, reported lower first-quarter profit as revenue slumped in its home market and operations aboard were hit by currency effects. Net income fell 5 percent to 1.63 billion euros ($1.84 billion) from 1.72 billion euros a year earlier, the bank said on Wednesday. That beat the 1.5 billion-euro average estimate in a Bloomberg survey …

Beijing / Bloomberg A Chinese bank head signalled confidence that the government will loosen requirements for lenders’ bad-debt provisions, a move that could help them to report larger profits. A reduction in the coverage ratio to about 120 percent to 130 percent of existing non-performing debt would be “reasonable” and “possible,” Wang Hongzhang, the chairman of China Construction Bank Corp., …