Italy's borrowing costs dropped to an eight-year low on Monday, after rating agency's Moody's raised outlook and as the country awaited a new, reform-driven government.

On Friday, Moody's raised the outlook for the Italian economy from negative to stable, while holding its notation at "Baa2".

Irked by high bank fees on international money transfers, two Estonian IT whizzes who helped engineer Skype and Paypal have hatched Transferwise, a global Internet platform coordinating currency swaps between individuals.

"Hey, hidden fees. Your secret's out," taunts the site founded by Taavet Hinrikus, 32, and partner Kristo Kaarmann, 33.

Japan economy grows in 2013, but concerns loom Japan's economy has logged its best performance in three years, driven by Premier Shinzo Abe's growth blitz, but weak second-half growth and an April sales tax rise are denting hopes for a sizzling 2014.

The 1.6 percent expansion last year marked the first annual figures under Abe and his program, dubbed Abenomics, after the conservative swept national elections on a ticket to restore Japan's fading status as an economic superpower.

Oil prices held above $100 in Asian trade Monday, cheered by a surge in bank lending in China, the world's top energy consumer.

New York's main contract West Texas Intermediate for March delivery rose 30 cents to $100.60 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for April eased 12 cents to $108.96.

South Korean regulators Sunday suspended some operations of three credit card firms as punishment for the unprecedented theft of financial data on more than 20 million people.

The country's largest-ever theft of personal financial data from KB Kookmin Bank, Lotte Card and NH Nonghyup Card involved more than 40 percent of the country's 50 million population.

Spain will sell its stake in bailed-out bank Bankia in stages over two or three years, its president said in an interview published Sunday.

Bankia became the symbol of Spain's financial crisis when it lost more than 19 billion euros ($26 billion) in 2012 and pushed the government to ask its eurozone partners for 41 billion euros in rescue loans to shore up the entire banking system.

Greece in 2013 registered a budget surplus of more than 1.5 billion euros ($2.05 billion), exceeding requirements for additional debt aid, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Sunday.

"We have created a primary surplus in 2013 when the target was for 2014... it is over 1.5 billion euros," Samaras told To Vima weekly in an interview.

Moody's kept Italy's debt rating unchanged at a low Baa2 investment grade Friday but improved its outlook from negative to stable as the country moved to choose a new premier.

The ratings agency cited the "resilience" of government finances, despite Italy's high debt and the tough challenges facing the country's economy.

For marijuana dispensaries around the country, the days of doing business in cash — driving around with bill-stuffed envelopes to pay the rent, or showing up at a state revenue office with $20,000 in paper bags for the tax man — can't end soon enough.

It's not clear that the Obama administration's new guidance on pot-related banking is going to end them.

The former CEO of Turkey's state-run Halkbank, who was arrested two months ago in a wide-ranging graft probe engulfing key government allies, has been released pending trial on Friday, media said.

Suleyman Aslan was among 24 people including the sons of three former cabinet ministers who were charged and remanded in custody as part of investigations into bribery allegations.