BNP Paribas has appointed Margaret Ren, a star China banker and a relative of China’s former premier, as chairwoman and chief executive of its corporate finance for greater China. Ren, a former managing director and chairwoman of China investment banking at Merrill Lynch, will report to Christian de Charnace, BNP Paribas head of corporate finance for Asia-Pacific. (Financial Times)

China Everbright Bank, the Chinese lender preparing for an initial public offering, said it earned US$497m in the first half after expanding credit by 32 per cent. (Bloomberg)

A federal judge in the US has refused to approve Bank of America’s US$33m settlement of a lawsuit over bonuses tied to its January acquisition of Merrill Lynch saying the amount isn’t appropriate if the bank lied about billions in payments. (Bloomberg)

As official figures confirm that Australia's banks have all but displaced other mortgage providers, a leading competition expert has told the Senate the competition regulator should take court action to force Commonwealth Bank to sell BankWest, and Westpac to sell St George. (The Age)