Company: HSBC Holdings, plc.

State Street Chairman Jay Hooley has sent a not-so-subtle message to European banks: He's ready to buy their custody and trust operations.

HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver said in a strategy update on Thursday that Europe's biggest bank is still on track to meet his return on equity (RoE) target of above 12 percent.

Stocks recovered more than half their losses, but still closed in negative territory Tuesday as political uncertainty in Greece kept investors on edge. 

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors continued to fret over the euro zone following elections in France and Greece over the weekend.

HSBC beat expectations with an underlying first-quarter profit of $6.8 billion as Europe's biggest bank saw a rebound in investment banking, growth in Asia and a fall in U.S. bad debts.

Even as HSBC beat expectations with its first quarter results on Tuesday, one strategist says its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Hang Seng Bank is a better bet for investors given its more attractive return on equity and lower cost base.

HSBC was set to report quarterly profit of almost $6 billion on Tuesday as Europe's biggest bank benefits from a rebound in investment banking income and falling bad debts, although it is struggling to cut costs.

In April, the HSBC UAE Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 53.5, the highest level since June 2011. The one-point increase is the strongest monthly gain since October of last year.

HSBC is cutting more than 2,200 jobs in Britain, targeting senior and middle management roles as part of its drive to slash costs and boost profitability in the face of a changing banking landscape.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, is set to cut about 2,000 jobs in Britain on Thursday as part of its drive to slash costs and boost profitability in the face of a changing banking landscape, a person familiar with the matter said.

HSBC is launching its first offshore yuan bond, which will be the first offshore yuan deal to be listed in London, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, reported on Wednesday.

Federal regulators are poised to crack down on eight financial firms that are not part of the recent government settlement over home foreclosure practices involving sloppy, inaccurate, or forged documents, the New York Times reports.

Financial firms in Britain, including banks hit in 2011 by the euro zone debt crisis, have started taking on new staff again, confounding forecasts for more lay-offs, according to a new industry survey.

Bank of Communications, China's fifth-biggest lender, posted a better-than-expected 30 percent rise in quarterly earnings, and said it faced headwinds as a slowing Chinese economy saps loan demand and threatens asset quality.

HSBC is set to scale back its Asian operations as it considers the sale or closure of seven Asian retail businesses from Pakistan to New Zealand, where it has decided to no longer focus investment. The FT reports.