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Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth-biggest lender by assets, said on Friday it had agreed to buy Citibank's loss-making class="mandelbrot_refrag"> retail operations in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Greece for 2 million euros ($2.72 million), the latest deal in the sector's consolidation. Greece's debt crisis has hammered its banking industry, prompting foreign players, including Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and Portugal's Millennium bcp , to sell local units to Greek lenders in recent years.   true       Hit by a sovereign debt restructuring and rising loan impairments during a deep six-year economic slump, the industry has consolidated down to four big players after a wave of acquisitions and the winding down of non-viable banks. The fortunes of National, Piraeus, Eurobank, and Alpha, which now control more than 90 percent of the banking market, have begun to improve after two recapitalisations and regained capital market access. On Fr

Following are terms and conditions _0"> of a bond priced on Friday. Borrower Export Development Canada, Full faith and credit of Her Majesty in Right of Canada (EDC) Issue Amount $1.0 billion Maturity Date August 19, 2019   true       Coupon 1.75 pct Issue price 99.682 Reoffer price 99.682 Yield 1.815 pct Spread Flat Underlying govt bond Mid-Swaps, equivalent to 13.1 basis points Over the CT5 Payment Date June 19, 2014 Lead Manager(s) Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of America ML, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs International _0"> Ratings Aaa (Moody's) _1"> Listing Lux _2"> Full fees Undisclosed _3"> Denoms (K) 5 _4"> ISIN US30216BFA52 _5"> _6"> _7"> For ratings information, double click

German bonds recovered after an earlier fall on Friday, as investors shrugged off worries that a rates rise in the UK would have a knock on effect for class="mandelbrot_refrag"> euro zone government borrowing costs.   true       Bund futures, the most actively traded securities in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> euro zone bond markets, initially dropped as much as 43 ticks at Friday's open after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said UK interest rates could rise sooner than financial markets expect. However, by mid-morning, Bund futures made a full reversal, climbing to daily highs of 145.63, 37 ticks up on the day. Strategists said data confirming the euro zone's alarmingly weak inflation served as a reminder that the path of ECB policy had completely diverged from its peer across the channel. "These deflation pressures show the ECB will keep rates low for a very long time, which is the most important thing for investors," said Christ

The Brazilian central bank's IBC-Br economic activity index rose 0.12 percent in April from March in seasonally adjusted terms, the bank said on Friday. _0"> The median estimate in a Reuters survey of 19 analysts was for 0.0 percent growth. Economic activity growth in March was revised up to 0.05 percent growth from a previously reported drop of 0.11 percent, according to central bank data. The index, a gauge of activity in the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> farming , industry and services sectors, dropped a non-seasonally adjusted 2.29 percent over the same month a year ago. (Reporting by Alonso Soto Editing by W Simon)   true      

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled a plan on Friday to cut the corporate tax rate below 30 percent in stages to help pull the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy out of two decades of sluggish growth and deflation.   true       Investors have been scrutinising whether class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Japan can substantially lower the corporate tax rate - among the highest in the world - to spur growth in the world's third-largest class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy . Abe also needs to strike a delicate balance between stimulating growth and reining in snowballing public debt, twice the size of its $5 trillion economy. The corporate tax cut is a major issue to be included in the government's key fiscal and economic policy outline, which will be finalised around June 27 along with a detailed "growth strategy" of structural reforms. "Japan's corporate tax rate will change into one that promotes growth," Abe t

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should do more to put sectarian differences aside in his country. _0"> "Prime Minister Maliki and all of Iraqi leaders need to do more to put sectarian differences aside," Kerry said at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed ; editing by Stephen Addison )

The following financial services industry appointments and departures were announced on Friday. To inform us of other job changes, email to moves@thomsonreuters.com. UBS AG The Swiss bank appointed Jerry Marcus, a former Bank of America class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Merrill Lynch banker, as a vice chairman of its Americas investment bank, according to an internal memo. The bank said Marcus, who previously headed BofA's class="mandelbrot_refrag"> retail class="mandelbrot_refrag"> investment banking group, would focus on bolstering UBS's work servicing retailers when he joins in September.   true       RBC WEALTH MANAGEMENT The division of the Royal Bank of Canada said it hired a class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Morgan Stanley executive director to lead its new southern region complex in Atlanta. Christopher Anderson joined RBC on Monday after 20 years at Morgan Stanley, where he was executive director and regional busines

A senior U.S. Treasury official on Friday rejected proposals to recapitalize class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Fannie Mae and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Freddie Mac , saying it would take at least 20 years to make sure they were adequately funded and that in the meantime taxpayers would potentially be on the hook. _0"> In remarks prepared for delivery to a housing conference, Treasury Under Secretary Mary Miller repeated the Obama administration's call for winding down the two government-controlled mortgage class="mandelbrot_refrag"> finance firms. "Critics of reform would suggest that we can simply recapitalize the GSEs and avoid difficult decisions around creating a new system," she said. "Even if truly rehabilitating the GSEs were possible, recapitalizing them adequately would take at least 20 years." (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )   true      

Investors braced on Friday for a UK interest rate hike later this year, pushing sterling to five-year highs and hurting property class="mandelbrot_refrag"> stocks , after the head of the Bank of England said rates may rise sooner than class="mandelbrot_refrag"> markets predict. Governor Mark Carney's surprisingly stark warning late on Thursday prompted investors to bring forward expectations for a first BoE rate hike by nearly four months, to December from the first quarter of 2015.   true       Sterling's trade-weighted index posted its biggest one-day rise in four months, hitting 5 1/2-year highs. Short-dated UK government bond yields were on track for their biggest daily gain in more than three years. A rate hike by the end of 2014 is likely to come at least six months before the U.S. Federal Reserve tightens policy. It would contrast sharply with the European Central Bank, which cut rates last week and is likely to ease policy in the coming

A senior U.S. Treasury official on Friday rejected calls to recapitalize class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Fannie Mae and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Freddie Mac , saying it would take at least 20 years to make sure they were adequately funded and that in the meantime taxpayers would be on the hook. In remarks to a housing conference, Treasury Undersecretary Mary Miller repeated the Obama administration's call that the two so-called government-sponsored enterprises be wound down. "Critics of reform would suggest that we can simply recapitalize the GSEs and avoid difficult decisions around creating a new system," she said. "Even if truly rehabilitating the GSEs were possible, recapitalizing them adequately would take at least 20 years."   true       "During these 20 years, the taxpayer would remain at risk of having to bail out the GSEs during another downturn," Miller added class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Fannie Mae

Britain could become the first major class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy to tighten monetary policy since the 2008 financial crisis, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has signalled, sending sterling shooting towards a five-year high against the dollar on Friday. British government bond yields soared, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> construction stocks tumbled and interest rate class="mandelbrot_refrag"> futures priced in a first hike by December after Carney said rates could rise sooner than class="mandelbrot_refrag"> markets had thought - his most hawkish comment to date. "There's already great speculation about the exact timing of the first rate hike and this decision is becoming more balanced," Carney said in a speech late on Thursday alongside British finance minister George Osborne. "It could happen sooner than markets currently expect." Few economists had expected rates to increase until the sec

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Japan on Friday denied Beijing's claims that its Self-Defence Force planes came "dangerously close" to Chinese aircraft in an incident over the East class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China Sea on Wednesday, demanding China takes down the footage allegedly showing the incident. _0"> The tit-for-tat accusations and denials are part of a long-running territorial dispute between Asia's largest economies. They follow a similar incident on May 24, when class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Japan said Chinese aircraft came within a few dozen metres of its warplanes. class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China , where bitter memories of Japan's wartime militarism run deep, lays claim to Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. China declared its air defence zone covering most of the East China Sea last year despite protests by Japan and the Uni

South Korean on Friday police arrested the brother of a South Korean businessman linked to a ferry disaster in April in which hundreds of school children drowned, as the net appeared to tighten around the fugitive's family. But Yoo Byung-un, 73, a businessman and photographer, is still on the run, eluding one of the country's biggest and most bizarre manhunts for more than a month, centred on a huge church sect compound south of Seoul. [ID:nL4N0OT3MC] His elder brother, Yoo Byung-il, was arrested near the leafy compound in Anseong, where police are checking all passing vehicles and pedestrians.   true       Yoo Byung-un's daughter, Yoo Som-Na, has been held in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> France since May 28 after Interpol called for her arrest "for fraud and embezzlement". She was denied bail on Wednesday Yoo Byung-un is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from a web of business holdings centred on I-One-I, an

The head of the junta that seized power in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Thailand last month said on Friday that an interim government would be set up by August, the first time he has given a clear date on delegating any sort of power in the country. General Prayuth Chan-ocha, in an address to senior military officials, announced the date as part of a three-phase plan of reconciliation, formation of a government and elections to be rolled out by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order. "A government will be set up by August, or at the very latest September," Prayuth told a meeting devoted to the 2015 national budget. He did not say whether the government would be comprised of civilian or military types.   true       The army took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup after six months of sometimes violent street protests pitting mainly rural supporters of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra against her Bangkok-based, royalist opponents. Prayuth re

Hundreds of Pakistani families have fled from a surge of fighting between Pakistani government forces and militants into neighboring class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Afghanistan , an Afghan government official said on Friday. _0"> Pakistani government forces have been launching air strikes against Pakistani Taliban fighters in a northwestern valley near the Afghan border in recent days, after Taliban fighters raided the country's biggest airport, in Karachi, late on Sunday. Missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft have also, for the first time in six months, attacked militants this week in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, a lawless militant stronghold on the Afghan order.   true       Millions of Afghan civilians have for decades sought shelter in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Pakistan to escape war in their homeland but the fighting in Pakistan this week has sparked a rare flow of civilians the other way. "Around 300 Pakistani families have

Shi'te Muslim class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iran is so alarmed by Sunni insurgent gains in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iraq that it may be willing to cooperate with Washington in helping Baghdad fight back, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. The idea is being discussed internally among the Islamic Republic's leadership, the senior Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official had no word on whether the idea had been raised with any other party. Officials say class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iran will send its neighbor advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to help its ally Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki check what Tehran sees as a profound threat to regional stability, officials and analysts say.   true       Islamist militants have captured swathes of territory including the country's second biggest city Mosul. Tehran is open to the possibility of working with the United States to

Tunisian police killed two Islamist militants during clashes near the Algerian border and seized weapons and bombs, the government said on Friday, two weeks after Islamists attacked a government minister's home in one of their boldest attacks. Tunisian forces are engaged in a crackdown on the hardline Islamist group Ansar al Sharia and launched a major assault this year on the Chaambi mountains in the west, close to the Algerian border, where Islamist militants have taken refuge. Clashes broke out on Thursday night in the northwest of the city of Jendouba,‮‮ Interior Ministry spokesman Ali Aroui said.   true       "Our forces killed two members of the terrorist group in Jendouba in exchange of fire... Tunisian police seized weapons, bombs and military costumes during the confrontation with Islamist militants", Aroui added. Four police were killed last month when Islamists opened fire on the interior minister's family home in the city of Kasserine. The minister L

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Ukraine said on Friday it was ready to pay a compromise price for Russian class="mandelbrot_refrag"> natural gas for 18 months to avert the threat of Moscow cutting off supplies and allow time to reach a long-term pricing agreement. Andriy Kobolev, chief executive of state gas company Naftogaz, said the price of $326 per 1,000 cubic metres - higher than what Kiev wants to pay and lower than what Russia demands - was proposed by the European Commission during talks. In talks that are made even more difficult by the conflict in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Ukraine , in which Kiev accuses Moscow of backing a separatist rebellion in eastern regions, Russia has threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine if it fails to start paying off billions of dollars in debts by Monday.   true       The Russian Energy Ministry has ruled out holding any more talks with Kiev and the EU before the Monday deadline. "In our opinio

Afghans head to the polls on Saturday for the second time in 10 weeks to elect a president who will take office as most foreign forces prepare to leave after nearly 13 years of inconclusive war. _0"> None of the eight candidates who contested the first round of the election on April 5 won more than 50 percent of the vote meaning the top two contenders have to face off on Saturday. The two men aiming to succeed President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from a third term, are a former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, and an ex-World Bank economist and former class="mandelbrot_refrag"> finance minister, Ashraf Ghani.   true       The winner will inherit an unfinished war and an class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy in the doldrums. The Taliban are still strong and Afghanistan's foreign-trained army has never put to rest questions about its effectiveness, especially in the absence of foreign troops, the bulk of whom will leave b

Nigeria is studying the military tactics used by Sri Lanka to crush the rebel Tamil Tigers for its own battle against Islamist group Boko Haram, the defense ministry said, after holding talks with officials from the island nation. Abuja has been criticized for its failure to contain the militant group, which has killed thousands since 2009 and has stepped up its devastating attacks after abducting more than 200 girls from a school in northeast Nigeria. Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, has exposed severe weaknesses in Abuja's security forces and heaped political pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan, who has declared a "full-scale operation" against the group.   true       High-ranking members of Nigeria's military met with a Sri Lankan delegation to discuss counter-insurgency tactics, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement late on Thursday. The chief of Nigeria's defense staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh,

Wearing sporting gear including cycling gloves, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked Egyptians on Friday to cycle and walk more to help the cash-strapped government that spends tens of billions of dollars a year on fuel subsidies. _0"> The former army chief gave one of his first speeches since last Sunday's inauguration to several hundred Egyptians on bicycles at a military college in the capital Cairo before taking part in a cycling marathon. Cyclists are rarely seen in Cairo where chaotic traffic regularly clogs up large parts of the city.   true       class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Egypt spent about 170 billion Egyptian pounds ($24 billion), or around a fifth of its budget, on energy subsidies this fiscal year ending June 30, state media quoted the government as saying this month, and plans to cut that to 104 billion next year. Energy prices in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Egypt are among the lowest in the world and although successive gover