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  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc reported a surprise jump in pretax earnings on the highest revenue at its investment bank in two years, while pushing out profitability targets on a weaker outlook and looming charges for misconduct. Pretax profit, excluding one-time costs, rose to 1.33 billion pounds ($1.6 billion), beating the 776 million-pound average estimate of seven ...

  Bloomberg A former supervisor working for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) downloaded confidential information on portable computer storage devices that haven’t yet been recovered, the agency said in a statement. Before retirement, the employee downloaded “more than 10,000 records” about the regulator’s activities and some personal information about staff members, the OCC said. The November ...

  Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s largest bank, is expanding its aviation finance business into the Americas and hired Olivier Trauchessec to lead the push. Trauchessec, who previously worked at BNP Paribas SA, will report to Lance Markowitz, head of leasing and asset finance in the Americas, the bank said in a statement. “The addition of a New ...

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest lender, reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as it benefited from a surge in fixed-income trading that has lifted bank earnings in Europe and the U.S. Net income rose 3.3 percent to 1.89 billion euros ($2.06 billion) from 1.83 billion euros a year earlier, the Paris-based bank said. That compares with the ...

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG missed out on a bond-trading bonanza that fuelled third-quarter earnings at rivals as a slump in equities revenue sparked a 68 percent drop in pretax profit at the securities business. Revenue from equities trading fell 16 percent to 797 million Swiss francs ($802 million) from a year earlier, missing the average estimate of four analysts ...

  When America fights its wars in the Middle East, it has a nasty habit of recruiting local forces as proxies and then jettisoning them when the going gets tough or regional politics intervene. This pattern of “seduction and abandonment” is one of our least endearing characteristics. It’s one reason the U.S. is mistrusted in the Middle East. We don’t ...

  To borrow a phrase from Vermont’s favourite socialist, I too am sick and tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton’s damn e-mails. As we all found out on Friday afternoon, the FBI is reviewing some messages involving a close Clinton aide to see if they contained classified information. The agency’s director, James Comey, said so in a vague letter to ...

  House Republicans are digging in for four years of nonstop investigations of Hillary Clinton if she is elected, and promising rejection of any legislation she proposes. As Paul Waldman at the Plum Line put it, they’ve already prepared to treat her presidency as illegitimate, just as they did with Barack Obama. Some of this is what political scientists might ...

  At last, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is set to be formally signed today. The deal went through a roller-coaster. Opposition from many corners — essentially from Belgian’s Wallonia region — to the agreement threw up daunting challenges for the EU. It put at stake the bloc’s credibility as a union. Now that the deal is ...

  Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has been the only “adult in the room” since the U.K. vote to quit the European Union, according to former BOE policy maker Danny Blanchflower. It’s an assessment many would agree with. Unfortunately, Carney looks like he may be planning a Brexit of his own. Prime Minister Theresa May, former Foreign Secretary William ...