The FINANCIAL -- The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee on November 5 voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%.

The FINANCIAL -- Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) was named Best Consumer Internet Bank in North America by Global Finance magazine at the annual awards ceremony last night in New York. The bank also received awards for:

The FINANCIAL -- KfW has in the third quarter successfully continued the positive development of results of the first half of 2009. After the good start into the 2009 financial year, the interim accounts of the KfW Group according to IFRS as at 30 September 2009 show a group profit of EUR 781 million.

The FINANCIAL -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Britain’s biggest government-controlled bank, reported a net loss of 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion). The bank said it remains cautious on the outlook.

The FINANCIAL -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with JSC BPS-Bank,  one of the largest banks in Belarus, to expand access to trade finance for small and medium companies in Belarus.