Bloomberg Japanese banks, known for the risk-aversion that spared them the worst of the credit crisis, have quietly grown into some of the world’s largest energy lenders. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s largest bank, disclosed last month it has become one of the biggest oil and gas lenders with 9.2 trillion yen, or about US$85 billion, in exposure …

  Bloomberg Since a surprise interest-rate cut at his first meeting as European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi has shown a penchant for pushing the envelope. The bank’s entry into the corporate bond market was no exception: buying bonds with junk ratings. Purchases on the first day included notes from Telecom Italia SpA, according to people familiar with the matter, …

  Bloomberg John Cryan’s plan to revamp Deutsche Bank AG risks unraveling as the departure of the chief executive officer’s most senior hire presents one more false start to a strategy he laid out last year. Quintin Price, hired in October to oversee growth in the bank’s asset-management business, is leaving the bank after going on medical leave in mid-April, …

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc’s sale of its Brazilian unit should face tougher scrutiny from the nation’s antitrust office because the local banking industry is already highly concentrated, one of the agency’s regulators said. Any banking mergers should immediately be deemed ‘complex,’ Cristiane Alkmin Junqueira Schmidt, a member of the agency, said. “I am really uncomfortable approving any transaction in the …

  Bloomberg Changes to the capital treatment of sovereign bonds discussed in Brussels and Basel may force European banks to raise as much as 171 billion euros (US$195 billion) in new capital or sell 492 billion euros of the securities, according to research published. European banks own about 2.3 trillion euros of sovereign debt, of which about 1.5 trillion euros, …

  AP French bank Societe Generale has been ordered to pay about 450,000 euros ($510,000) to former trader Jerome Kerviel for unfair dismissal, after he was accused of one of the biggest trading frauds in history. Kerviel has become an icon for critics of the banking world, and his supporters hailed decision in his favour by a labour arbitration court. …

  Mainz / DPA Gardeners at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany are attempting to bring to life a 15th-century herb garden partly based on Arab medical traditions. In their botanical gardens they’ve planted more than 70 plants featured in a 1485 book — published in the German city of Mainz — called Gart der Gesundheit (Garden of …

  Accra / AFP Excess and waste are usually considered symptomatic of the affluent West but trained chef Elijah Amoo Addo knows these are problems too in his home country, Ghana.One day he saw a homeless man collecting food scraps to feed others in the capital, Accra. Watching someone pick up food no-one else would eat for people no-one was …

  Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne hit back at claims he’s scaremongering in his campaign to keep Britain in the European Union, saying “there is a lot to be scared about.” Osborne rejected accusations he had misrepresented Treasury analysis of the consequences of a vote to leave the EU on June 23 and overstated the impact of an …

  Bloomberg The U.K.’s 10-year government bond yield dropped to a record before an auction of index-linked debt, the final sale before the nation’s referendum on European Union membership. The yield could fall further to 1 percent in the event that the U.K. votes to leave the world’s biggest single market on June 23, according to Daniela Russell, a portfolio …