An independent Scotland could have a disproportionately large banking sector compared to its economy, leaving it vulnerable to financial shocks, according to a study by The Banker magazine released Monday.

The trade publication found that Scotland would have banking assets 12 times the size of its gross domestic product (GDP), if banking assets registered in the country remained there were it to become independent.

U.S. tax evaders will find it much harder to hide money abroad starting Tuesday, when a sweeping new law enters into effect requiring foreign banks to report their offshore accounts.

Banking centers like Switzerland and Luxembourg that agreed to the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) will have to begin turning over account names and other data to U.S. financial authorities so that they can tax unreported income.

China's central bank said it has signed agreements for yuan clearing arrangements with France and Luxembourg, with the aim of promoting greater use of its currency overseas.

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) said it would designate Chinese banks as the yuan clearing institutions in the two European countries later, according to statements issued on Sunday.

The dollar drifted lower in Asia on Monday as a string of disappointing U.S. data last week put pressure on the currency.

The greenback sank to 101.30 yen in afternoon Tokyo trade from 101.45 yen in New York Friday afternoon.

French bank BNP Paribas has agreed to pay U.S. authorities a $8.9 billion fine to avoid being tried in court for dealing with U.S.-blacklisted countries, sources close to the matter told Agence France Presse.

The deal ends months of haggling which saw French President Francois Hollande pressing his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to intervene and lighten the punishment.

Moody's cut Russia's credit rating outlook to "negative" Friday, a sign of a possible coming downgrade, citing the threat to the Russian economy from its involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

Moody's held Russia's overall rating at Baa1, in the low range for investment-grade bonds.

The dollar slipped against the euro Friday after dreary data on the US economy this week had traders expecting the Federal Reserve will keep ultra-low interest rates well into 2015.

On Thursday US consumer spending data for May showed a mere 0.2 percent increase from April, but adjusted for inflation, spending actually fell 0.1 percent.

A power outage hit a wide area of eastern Caracas and several cities in the interior of Venezuela for at least two hours Friday.

The outage started at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) and service began being restored about two hours later. 

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim has bought out US telephone operator AT&T's $5.6 billion stake in telecommunications firm America Movil, the companies announced Friday.

The acquisition of AT&T's shares in the company represent 8.27 percent of America Movil's capital stock, according to a company statement.

The U.S. aviation regulator upgraded Serbia's safety rating Friday, giving the country's airlines the right to fly into the United States.

The Federal Aviation Administration raised Serbia's rating for complying with safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization to category 1, after holding the country at a category 2 level of non-compliance since 2006.