The Bank of Baroda has been praised for recognising in its December-quarter results all the bad loans that a Reserve Bank of India review had thrown up, plus some that it found internally. Though provisions against these loans translated into a quarterly loss, investors rewarded Baroda's "gumption" by pushing its share prices up 21 per cent, the WSJ reports, noting this clean break sets the stage for an earnings recovery In contrast, most other Indian banks are staggering their bad-loan disclosures, despite seeming to know how many more bad loans there are, depressing their share prices. HSBC has decided to keep its headquarters in London, ending ten months of uncertainty with a decision that reflects how the UK political climate has shifted back in favour of the banking sector, the Financial Times reports, observing that "heightened regulatory risks and dwindling opportunities [in China] meant caution won the day". Having regulators with the ability to manage the markets and the currency matters to HSBC "because if it had shifted back to Hong Kong, the People's Bank of China would have been in effect its regulator and certainly its lender of last resort," the FT notes. A "staggering loss of confidence" in banks triggered a global selloff last week in banks' contingent convertible bonds, hybrids known as "cocos," the Wall Street Journal notes, warning that Chinese banks have been among the biggest issuers of cocos. However, the quality of assets held by Chinese banks is deteriorating, profit growth has stalled, nonperforming loans are rising and coverage ratios for problematic loans are falling. So, while its banks are generally well-capitalised, "with such a large banking system, Beijing may find tapping cocos while injecting capital to be a helpful way to plug the holes", the WSJ surmises. Citi is reportedly in discussion with UK's Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority, aiming to convince them to exempt its top London executives from tough new banking accountability rules, according to the FT. The US bank believes some of their most senior London-based executives are excluded from the rules as they run global business operations from the UK. Citing a person "familiar with the bank's deliberations," the FT reports that Citi's global heads are only exempt if there are other UK-based senior executives in the same division who can be the "responsible person" for the purposes of the senior managers' regime.