Hong Kong's stock market gained Wednesday on easing oil prices and an overnight rally on Wall Street. Refiners and airlines led the way.

U.S. private equity firm Lone Star on Thursday dismissed reports it had discussed the sale of Korea Exchange Bank  with other parties than planned buyer HSBC, though prospects for the $6.3 billion deal remain uncertain.

The SEC issued its emergency ruling against naked short-selling Tuesday to build investor confidence regarding market information, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told CNBC.

U.S. securities regulators issued an emergency rule Tuesday to limit certain types of short selling in major financial firms, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

U.S. private equity house Lone Star could offer shares in Korea Exchange Bank  in a block sale if the pending $6.3 billion deal to sell control of KEB to HSBC falters, KEB's chief executive said on Thursday.

HSBC, the giant London-based bank, has moved its North American headquarters to a sprawling facility that it bills as carbon neutral in this hamlet about 30 miles north of Chicago, The New York Times reports.

A South Korean high court on Tuesday cleared U.S. private equity house Lone Star of manipulating the stock price of a former credit card unit of Korea Exchange Bank, rejecting an earlier ruling.

More Wall Street firms, facing the specter of tougher regulation and slumping capital markets, will follow the path of Bear Stearns and be forced into the arms of deposit-rich commercial banks, veteran banking analyst Charles Peabody told Reuters.

As discontent grows inside Lehman Brothers over the firm's financial problems, pressure is building on Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld to sell the securities firm to a bigger player, CNBC has learned.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, might consider pulling out of a $6.3 billion deal to take over South Korea's No. 6 bank, Korea Exchange Bank, its Asia chief said on Wednesday.

Some of the nation’s biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions, the NYT reports.

The chief executive of Europe's biggest lender on Tuesday called on central bankers to raise interest rates in order to combat inflation.

HSBC said on Monday it was committed to a $6.3 billion takeover of South Korea's No. 6 bank, but warned it would not wait forever for approval of a deal seen as a major test of the country's openness to foreign investors.

Stocks started the week off higher, led by financials and technology stocks. RIMM and MBIA rose, while HP declined.