The crisis at soccer’s global governing body continues to spread as authorities in Germany and Switzerland target banks and national sport associations for financial transactions linked to Fifa.

Cairn Homes will unveil plans for an initial public offering as soon as next week, the first for an Irish home builder in almost two decades.

The decade-long surge in foreign currency reserves held by the world’s central banks is coming to an end.

Credit Suisse Group is planning to move some jobs from London to Ireland as it cuts costs at its investment bank, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Investment firms Värde Partners and KKR & Co, along with Deutsche Bank, have agreed to buy General Electric’s Australia and New Zealand financial services unit in what they described as one of the region’s largest private equity deals.

The Swiss National Bank’s scrapping of its cap on the franc, which rocked foreign exchange and equity markets around the world, is being accepted with resignation by many at home.

Bond markets are again being plagued by a drop in trading. While traders are returning from holidays and being less active than usual, prices are swinging. Yields on sovereign debt globally have plunged to the lowest ever, with rates on 30-year treasuries falling to their lowest point in more than two years.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, has hired Ewen Stevenson from Credit Suisse Group as chief financial officer.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China’s biggest e-commerce company, will begin the process of filing for an initial public offering in the US that may be the biggest since Facebook.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said officials are seeing progress in lending as a slump in credit eases and surveys signal improvement in loan demands.

Carlyle Group, the world’s second-largest manager of investment alternatives to stocks and bonds, said fourth-quarter profit more than tripled as the value of its fund holdings increased and the firm sold assets at a profit.

Benjamin Lawsky, New York’s top financial regulator, has asked more than a dozen banks including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, for documents related to their currency trading practices, a person familiar with the matter said.

Bank of America has sold its wealth management business to Swiss money manager, Julius Baer, for about €715m.

An unusual sight greeted guests at New York’s posh St Regis’s hotel this week: Dozens of investors trickled out carrying Manchester United hats and footballs after a marketing event for the club’s upcoming initial public offering.

Initial public offerings have fallen 34% this year, with many firms fearing a repeat of the social network’s flop debut, writes Lee Spears

Manchester United, the record 19-time English soccer champion, is revisiting plans for an initial public offering in Singapore as stock markets recover, said five people with knowledge of the matter.

The guilty pleas last week by two former Credit Suisse Group traders, on charges of falsifying their company’s asset values, revive an age-old question: How dumb do you have to be to get criminally convicted for a fraud you committed while working at a bank deemed too big to fail?

Credit Suisse Group has reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 637 million Swiss francs (698 million US dollars), far below what analysts expected.

EUROPE’S bailout fund plans to raise €3 billion from a sale of three-year bonds after Standard & Poor’s said in December it may lose its top credit rating — the money is earmarked for Ireland and Portugal.

CREDIT rating agency Fitch told the eurozone last night it thinks a comprehensive solution to the bloc’s debt crisis is beyond reach, as it put a number of the bloc’s economies including Ireland on watch for potential downgrades.

Credit Suisse Group has announced a 3% cut in its staff across the board after reporting weak third-quarter net profits of 683m Swiss francs (€570m).

SWITZERLAND’S biggest bank UBS is to axe 3,500 jobs to shave 2 billion Swiss francs (€1.72bn) off annual costs as it joins rival investment banks in reversing the post-crisis hiring binge and preparing for a tough few years.

BARCLAYS, Britain’s second-largest bank by assets, is eliminating about 3,000 jobs this year as second-quarter investment banking profit fell by more than 25%.

IRISH and European shares fell to near year lows yesterday as gold hit new records as investors sought a safe haven amid fears the US will re-enter recession and Italy and Spain could be frozen out of sovereign dept markets just like Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

THE ECB’s decision not to increase the availability of debt to boost growthin the eurozone has resulted in the euromaking strong gains in recent days.

Credit Suisse Group said today it is selling parts of its asset management business to Aberdeen Asset Management PLC in return for a 24.9% interest in the British investment firm.

AIB was among the European banking stocks least favoured by analysts at UBS as it predicted a dreadful year for earnings in 2009.

Thailand’s prime minister today refused to cede to protesters determined to oust him, but offered a referendum on his fate aimed at ending the political crisis that has raised fears of economic chaos.

CREDIT Suisse Group delivered a further confidence blow to the financial sector with worse than expected first quarter losses as subprime write downs hit home.

JAPAN’S Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell yesterday, paced by Nikon on concern the digital camera seller’s earnings’ growth is dependent on currency moves.

EUROPEAN stocks climbed after BNP Paribas SA agreed to buy Community First Bankshares Inc for $1.2 billion in cash.

ROYAL Bank of Scotland Group, Britain’s second-largest bank, agreed to buy the Swiss private banking unit of HVB Group for 324.5 million, its second foreign acquisition move this week.

Churchill Insurance, one of Britain’s biggest car and home insurers, has been put up for sale with a £1.5 billion price tag by its owner Credit Suisse Group.

BANK OF IRELAND risks pushing its share price lower when it publishes details of its spurned bid to take over Britain's sixth biggest bank, Abbey National, Goodbody Stockbrokers warned yesterday.

Credit Suisse Group CEO Lukas Muehlemann is likely to leave the company, as a group CEO is not necessary with two strong leaders at the helm of the concern's two large units, according to sources reported in SonntagsBlick.

Prudential has confirmed it's to cut 2,100 jobs, more than 20% of its UK workforce. Jobs are expected to go at its many offices including Belfast.