Weekly Global News Wrap: Saudi's biggest bank scraps $200b lender; Goldman Sachs to support green projects

And the PNC-Venmo fight highlights issue over who owns customers’ banking data.

From Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia’s biggest lender scrapped plans to merge with a local rival following a year of talks that would have created a bank with $200b in assets.

National Commercial Bank ended talks with smaller competitor Riyad Bank after they couldn’t agree on its valuation, according to a person with knowledge of the deal, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. In a statement Monday, the banks didn’t say why their boards terminated discussions.

Saudi Arabia -- where almost 30 local and international lenders serve more than 30 million people -- is exploring potential mergers to boost its financial services industry after the combination of Saudi British Bank and Alawwal Bank.

From Reuters:

Goldman Sachs has unveiled its plans to put money and advice towards projects that fight climate change or help financially disadvantaged people, with executives arguing it is not only the right thing to do but can generate income.

The bank is setting a lofty-sounding target of $750b. The figure is a mix of loans, underwriting, advisory services and investments related to projects Goldman expects to be involved with by 2030.

It reflects the total size of loans, deals and other arrangements Goldman expects to perform as a bank or intermediary with companies and projects focused on renewable energy, sustainable transportation, affordable education and several other areas, the bank said.

From CNBC:

PNC and Venmo are bickering over customers’ access to third parties, highlighting the sometimes murky area of connecting finance apps to bank accounts.

Over the past month, PNC customers have taken to Twitter to complain about not being able to connect to peer-to-peer payments app Venmo, which is owned by PayPal.

The disagreement underlines what can be a divisive topic of who owns consumers’ financial data — the banks or the consumers — and the difficulty of exporting that data in the United States.

Photo courtesy of Tahir Mq (Wikimedia Commons).