Weekly Global News Wrap Up: BNP aims for higher profits; Deutsche Bank pleads for investors' patience

And more Britain and US banks ban bitcoin buying using credit cards.

From Bloomberg: The biggest market sell-off in more than six years isn’t denting BNP Paribas SA’s confidence, with the French bank saying that it may exceed its 2020 profitability target as Europe’s economic expansion takes hold. An improving interest-rate environment is likely to support growth, France’s largest lender said Tuesday as it reported fourth-quarter profit and trading results mostly in line with analysts’ estimates, though corporate banking did less well than expected because of higher one-off loan loss provisions.

From Reuters: Deutsche Bank appealed for investors to be patient after it posted its third consecutive annual loss in 2017, taking a hit from challenging markets, a drop in investment bank revenue and a U.S. tax reform, after a difficult fourth quarter. “We believe we are firmly on the path to producing growth and higher returns with sustained discipline on costs and risks,” Chief Executive John Cryan said in a statement on Friday. “We have made progress, but we are not yet satisfied with our results.”

From Reuters via CNBC: Banks in Britain and the United States have banned the use of credit cards to buy Bitcoin and other "cryptocurrencies", fearing a plunge in their value will leave customers unable to repay their debts. Lloyds Banking Group Plc, which issues just over a quarter of all credit cards in Britain, and Virgin Money said they would ban credit card customers from buying cryptocurrencies, following the lead of U.S. banking giants JP Morgan Chase & Co and Citigroup.