Foreign news: PayPal leaves eBay, BOC to trade Dubai oil, HK bank for sale, BNP goes digital 17 July 2015 4:07PM Banking Day staff Foreign news, eBay has received the final approval required (from the European Central bank) to go ahead with the separation of its payments business PayPal. The separation will be completed today (Friday) and PayPal's stock will start trading on the Nasdaq Exchange on Monday. eBay and PayPal have a five-year payment processing agreement. The Wall Street Journal estimated that PayPal would have a market value of around US$43 billion. The WSJ speculated that PayPal might be a takeover target, with Google and Alibaba among possible suitors. An October 2014 agreement to widen and improve services for their mutual customers in Asia has led to the Dubai Mercantile Exchange approving the issuing of letters of credit by Bank of China's Singapore branch. BOC will be able to trade directly on the DME on behalf of its clients, while adding to the roster of international banks already authorised to issue LCs directly from Singapore via the DME. These documents are used to guarantee deliveries of Oman Blend crude oil. BOC Hong Kong Holdings, controlled by China's fourth-largest lender, the Bank of China, is looking to offload its subsidiary Nanyang Commercial Bank, for a price tag of HK$68 billion (US$8.8 billion), Bloomberg reports. Nanyang Commercial Bank had 42 branches in the city and 38 outlets in mainland China at the end of 2014, with HK$304 billion (US$39 billion) in consolidated assets, its annual report showed. The sale, however, must be made to be to a financial institution with direct or indirect Chinese government ownership of more than 50 per cent, BOC Hong Kong said. Bidding is expected to close on August 25. Venerable French major bank, BNP Paribas said it is "partnering simultaneously and at an international level" with Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Twitter. The bank said in a lengthy statement that "improving the digital banking experience for clients is a key development priority for BNP Paribas", which is why it was doing business with the four "digital giants". In essence, looking past the overblown purple prose and management speak, the bank wants to increase its reach and increase its speed to market.