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Al Hilal Bank, a UAE-government owned Islamic bank, has announced the appointment of real estate services company John Buck International, to coordinate and manage the development of a 24-storey commercial tower for Al Hilal on Sowwah Island, Abu Dhabi. According to agreement, John Buck International will steer all aspects of the project through the design and construction processes. The first phase of the design process is to commence with immediate effect and the project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

Virginia Dawson, co-manager of the Industry Leaders Fund Investor Shares, says large-cap financial shares will lead the rally through the rest of the year.

Big paydays persist even as banks prepare for pay czar scrutiny.

A report by Treasury watchdog group says bad assets are still on banks' books.

Marc Chandler submits:The price of gold was off about 1% Monday, roughly matching the slide before the weekend. What is noteworthy about gold's heavier tone is that last Friday 16 European central banks agreed to limited their gold sales to about 400 metric tonnes a year for the next five years. This is 100 metric tonnes less than the current 5-year agreement that expires next month. There was talk in the market that the quote could have been raised by 100 metric tonnes. The IMF's planned 403 metric tons would appear to be included in these figures, though some had previously anticipated they would be viewed separately.The bottom line is that there will be less official gold sales in the next five years than there has been in the previous five years. Most commentators expected to gold to rally on the news, but instead it has fallen 3% from last Thursday's high to today's low. The firmer tone for the U.S. dollar and the continued increase in interest rates (which makes the non-yielding

Denmark's biggest financial group, Danske Bank, said that write-offs on bad loans would remain for the rest of the year as it reported a bigger-than-forecast drop in profits

A judge delayed a decision on approval of a $33 million Bank of America-SEC settlement on Merrill bonuses.

Bank of America and the S.E.C. must provide Judge Jed S. Rakoff with specifics about disclosure of bonuses.

Banks in the UK are going to be asked to change their policies on pay and bonuses.

Lending by Chinese banks slows considerably in July, softening the pace of growth in the nation's broad money supply, as banks ease off the lending blitz following record loan issuance in the first half.