Monday's Headlines: Citigroup is building a bad reputation in Asia

Citigroup is attracting a lot of reputational risk in Asia, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.

In Japan, the bank is trying to assuage regulators who are "growing increasingly impatient at what they see as the bank's inability to fix regulatory problems that have led to three scandals in seven years."

Earlier this year, Citibank was under fire in Indonesia for an employee's alleged embezzlement scheme and for the death of a client allegedly caused by Citi debt collectors. In Hong Kong, the bank came under scrutiny for failing to spot and report an alleged Ponzi scheme run by an employee.

"Across Citi's vast global operations, the impact of a few bad apples shouldn't be taken out of context, and certainly Citi isn't the only global bank that has problems negotiating a regulatory thicket in multiple Asian jurisdictions," the Wall Street Journal writes. "Still, Citi's management will be concerned about the potential impact of a series of recent missteps."

In Indonesia, the bank has been banned from opening new branches for a year and from signing up new asset management clients. Japanese regulators may also impose temporary bans.

Other News:

France's Credit Agricole to announce layoffs this month. [Reuters]

UK tax authorities let Goldman Sachs avoid interest payment in "sweetheart deal." [Financial Times]

U.S. bank customers flock to credit unions to protest Wall Street. [Wall Street Journal]

Citigroup puts $800 million of shareholder money in proprietary bets despite regulator concerns. [Bloomberg]

MF Global ex-clients must post more collateral to maintain positions. [New York Times]

Germany's Commerzbank posts Q3 loss, warns about 2012 profits on Greek write-downs. [Dow Jones Newswires]

Berkshire Hathaway may fall under Fed oversight as regulators tighten risk controls. [Bloomberg]

BlackRock irks rivals by proposing more cautious ETF marketing to retail clients. [Wall Street Journal]

Brazil banks post strong Q3 results, in sharp contrast to banks around the world. [Financial Times]

Bank of America may sell more of China Construction Bank Corp stake. [Reuters]

European banks weighed down by risky assets bought before crisis. [Dow Jones Newswires]

Spain's Banco Popular CEO says more Spanish bank consolidation likely. [Financial Times]