Iranian banks have begun issuing credit cards for the first time in decades, local media reported on Monday.

The report by several newspapers, including the daily Donya-e-Eqtesad or World of Economy in Farsi, said the cards will be for domestic use only and do not involve any sort of partnership with a major international credit card company.

World markets dropped on Monday, picking up where they left off after last week's Fed-inspired rally ran out of steam.

After a burst of enthusiasm on the back of the US central bank's decision to keep interest rates on hold for a little longer, screens were red across the world -- with the pace of decline sharply quickened.

Oil prices rose modestly in Asia on Monday ahead of a producers' meeting this week that might agree to cap supplies.

But analysts warned that optimism should be tempered by experience of two years of gluts and disagreement among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

French tax authorities have asked Switzerland to hand over client information for some 45,000 bank accounts as part of a probe into alleged tax fraud, Le Parisien daily said Monday.

Swiss banking giant UBS said in July that the Swiss authorities had asked it to provide client information following a French request for international administrative assistance in May.

The scandal was complex but its outcome potentially simple -- Ukraine tried to fiddle with its murky gas sector and upset its EU partners enough to freeze huge sums of financial help.

China has given the green light to controversial credit default swap trading for the first time, signalling that Beijing is willing to let indebted companies fail to stop economic slowdown.

In a country where the government usually helps firms facing problems, the move will allow the market to absorb the shock of defaults, which will happen much more frequently.

Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, called for implementing international standards and issuing required regulations so as to combat money laundering and terror funding in the region, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.

Salameh's words came during the 40th meeting of the Council of Arab Central Banks Governors which took place in Rabat.

Oil prices eased on profit-taking Friday following two days of solid gains as traders turned their attention to next week's planned meeting of key producers.

India signed a formal agreement Friday to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault for 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion), one of its biggest defence deals in decades.

France's economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the second quarter, the Insee statistics agency said Friday, revising an initial estimate of zero growth.