Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. (005380), South Korea’s largest companies, told employees to brace for intense competition in a weak global economy as the government called for contingency planning.

Manufacturing expanded in India and China in December, indicating Asia’s fastest-growing major economies have so far withstood the fallout from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

European (SXXP) stocks rallied, following the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s first annual loss since 2008, after manufacturing in Germany and China beat forecasts. French bonds fell before debt sales this week and the euro weakened.

R. Allen Stanford, accused of running a $7 billion investment fraud, asked for a three-month delay in his trial set for Jan. 23 after his expert witnesses quit over not being paid, according to court filings.

The biggest wave of takeover offers ever for publicly traded stock and derivatives exchanges has done little for investors in 2011, as more than $21 billion of equity value was erased and only one deal closed.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank by assets, and Ally Financial Inc (ALLY). were among the financial institutions sued by the German lender HSH Nordbank AG over losses on about $293 million in mortgage bonds.

Wall Street dealers made it tougher for hedge funds to finance trading of securities and derivatives in the three months through November, a Federal Reserve survey showed today.

The value of global takeovers dropped to the lowest level in more than a year this quarter, and dealmakers say Europe’s debt crisis may hamper a recovery in 2012 as cash-rich companies hold off on major purchases.

Japan’s Financial Regulator to Add 32 Officials to Tighten Bank Oversight

SEC Backs Lehman Brokerage in Barclays Claim

Cruzeiro Do Sul Buys 88.7% of Banco Prosper for $30 Million

China Arrests Southwest Securities Executive Ji in Crackdown on Misconduct

Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. (8766) agreed to pay a 71 percent premium in its $2.7 billion cash bid for the U.S.’s Delphi Financial Group Inc. as Japanese insurers face waning demand from an aging population at home.

Malaysia will allow foreign banks to own bigger stakes in local lenders, grant more licenses and ease short-selling rules as it seeks to triple the size of its finance sector by the end of the decade, the central bank said.

More Print Email Enlarge image BofA Agrees to $335 Million Fair Lending Settlement Pedestrians walk past a Bank of America automatic teller machine in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photographer: Davis Turner/Bloomberg Enlarge image BofA Agrees to $335 Million Fair Lending Settlement The Bank of America Corp. logo is displayed in front of a branch in Galveston, Texas. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BAC) will pay a record $335 million to compensate Countrywide Financial Corp. borrowers who were charged more for home loans based on race and national origin.