Foreign news: AMEX share buyback, DBS seeks Indian licence, Nomura 'misrepresented' US mortgages, St

American Express has raised its quarterly dividend to US29 cents per share from US26 cents, and announced it will buy back 150 million of its shares, CNBC reports.
Singapore's DBS Group applied to the Reserve Bank of India about two weeks ago to start a subsidiary operation in the country, according to Reuters. The Indian central bank said in November 2013 its preference was that foreign banks move to a wholly owned subsidiary structure.
A US District Court in New York ruled Japan's Nomura was liable for misrepresenting the quality of the mortgages it sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The New York Times reports that Nomura decided not to settle, but to fight the government on its mortgage cases stemming from loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nomura said it would appeal the ruling.
Standard Chartered plans to exit from its small and medium-enterprise lending business in Bahrain over the next two years, Bloomberg reports. It may move some larger SME clients to its corporate banking segment. The bank's CEO for Bahrain, Hassan Jarrar, is leaving to head Bahrain Islamic Bank. StanChart is also looking to sell its retail banking business in Oman, where it has three branches and employs about 100 people, while plans to exit its SME lending business in the UAE have been put on hold, Bloomberg adds.