London-focused housebuilder Berkeley has announced that its strong land bank would enable it to meet full-year expectations, and that it was on track to return £568 million in cash to shareholders by September
2015.

Tony Pidgley-promoted group said that its land bank by 10 per cent this year, after acquiring three sites in London and the south east of the country.

Insurer Legal & General (L&G) and private equity group Patron Capital Partners have agreed to buy Lloyds Banking Group's Edinburgh-based house-builder Cala business.

Each of L&G and Patron will acquire a 46.5 per cent stake in Cala for £210 million. Both investment companies will get a representation on Cala's board.

As had widely been expected, Japan's central bank made no change in its key policy interest rate and the size of asset-purchase program.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) on Thursday announced its unanimous decision to maintain its key policy interest rate in a range of 0-0.1 per cent, and hold off any expansion in its asset purchases and lending scheme.

British lender Lloyds will reportedly increase in the amount of cash it has set aside to compensate customers who had been mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI).

Emerging reports say that the increase will be announced when the Britain's biggest retail lender will reveal its full-year results on Friday.

Concerns about Federal Reserve Bank's potential losses should be weighed against the benefits of asset purchases, Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said.

Oversea Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) Limited has reported better-than-expected results for final three months of 2012, thanks to strong growth at its insurance division and in fee income.

OCBC bank announced that its net profit jumped 12 per cent year on year to $663 million in the fourth quarter of last year.  Analysts had projected an average net profit of $624 million for the quarter under review.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will have to pay £391 million ($612m) to the U. S. and British authorities to settle allegations of benchmark interest rates manipulation (Libor scandal).