Lloyds Banking Group said its pre-tax profit for the first nine months of the year rose 38 percent to 4.5 billion pounds ($5.91 billion), building on the eight-year profit record it achieved in the first six months of the year. Britain’s biggest retail bank also said it would improve the rate at which it generates […]

European stocks are set to open lower on Wednesday morning as investors look out for new earnings reports and economic data. The FTSE 100 is seen down by 21 points at 7,508; the DAX is set to open lower by 26 points at 12,995 and the CAC 40 is expected to start the day lower […]

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), is set to reveal details of a reduction in monetary stimulus Thursday in what could be the most eventful meeting of the central bank this year. The expectation for this week’s ECB meeting are very clear: Nothing less than the big “taper” plan for next […]

Former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was elected speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday, a position from which he will try to impose discipline on far-right lawmakers who opposed his appointment. Schaeuble won 501 of 705 votes from fellow lawmakers for the post of Bundestag president, or speaker. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), […]

Britain’s markets watchdog said it has opened an investigation into the hacking of U.S. credit reporting agency Equifax, which affected nearly 700,000 UK citizens. “The Financial Conduct Authority announces today that it is investigating the circumstances surrounding a cybersecurity incident that led to the loss of U.K. customer data held by Equifax Ltd on the […]

Fitbit has launched its payments processing app in the U.K. Fitbit Pay, the wearable tech firm’s answer to competitor giants like Apple Pay and Android Pay, will be available initially with one bank in Britain — fintech start-up Starling. Starling customers in the U.K. can now use Fitbit’s Ionic smartwatch to make contactless payments in […]

Spain‘s central government is prepared to discipline Catalan citizens who chose to disobey direct rule from Madrid, the Spanish government’s official representative in Catalonia told CNBC. “The Spanish government is going to have the responsibility of taking decisions of a disciplinary nature if there is a rejection, by any functionaries, of any of the orders […]

An extremely rare Italian supercar estimated to be worth more than £1.5 million ($1.9 million) was left with “significant damage” after it smashed into a crash barrier in the U.K. The blue Pagani Zonda, which has a top speed of almost 220 miles per hour, collided with a barrier on the A27 at Tangmere in […]

The negative view of Russia from the U.S. is being fueled by an internal political struggle in Washington and needs to be resolved, according to the CEO and president of Russia’s second-largest bank. “We are sick and tired of what’s happening in America and this anti-Russian stance,” VTB Bank’s Andrey Kostin told CNBC Tuesday morning. […]

Swedbank beat third-quarter operating profit expectations on Tuesday and brushed off concerns that the Swedish housing market could be set for a significant correction. Operating profit rose to 6.19 billion Swedish crowns ($755 million), helped by higher lending volumes in the bank’s home markets. That topped a mean forecast of 5.87 billion in a Reuters […]