Bangladeshi firms continue to be the most optimistic out of the 34 countries in which British banking giant HSBC operates, said one of its top officials.

The oil price falls below $28 a barrel amid fears the lifting of Western sanctions on Iran could worsen the existing oversupply problem.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, is planning to cut 20,000 jobs around the world as it tries to reduce costs and simplify its business.

WITH a former HSBC banker blowing the top off the bank's scandal and the French authorities launching a full blown investigation in 2008, evidence has emerged that nationals of Bangladeshi origin are among those suspected of money laundering between the years 1985 and 2006.