French Insurance firm AXA (EPA: CS) have made a concerned effort to strengthen their environmental policies as they gave the market an update on Wednesday.

Shares of AXA are trading at EUR24 (+0.14%) 27/11/19 14:06BST.

The insurance and finance industry has seen mixed results, as shares have been up and down. Competitors including Aviva (LON: AV) and Lloyd’s (LON: LLOY) have seen their shares crash following poor respective trading updates.

AXA announced that it would commit to exit coal more quickly across a greater number of countries, as policymakers look to transition into a low carbon economy.

At a time where environmental policies have never been so important, the move to exit coal investments by 2030 is a positive one for AXA and will certainty favor their media image.

AXA said that as an investor it would exit completely from the coal industry across countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union by 2030, and the rest of the world by 2040.

This will put pressure onto other financial institutions and industrial companies to make a concerned effort to step up their fight against climate change.

In other steps announced on Wednesday, the French insurer said it will put 12 billion euros (£10 billion) in “green investments” between 2020-2023.

AXA added that as an insurer, it would restrict coal undewriting policy and stop selling insurance contracts, apart from employee benefits offers, to clients developing new coal projects that exceed 300 MW in capacity.

“AXA is leading the way by driving its portfolio of coal down to zero by 2030,” said Regine Richter, Energy Campaigner at Germany-based campaign group Urgewald.

This comes as a move after firms such as UniCredit (BIT: UCG) and Coca Cola (LON: CCH) have announced new environmentally friendly policies.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LON: RBS) have announced to the market that they are set to release their standalone digital Bank Bó.

Shares of RBS currently trade at 231p (+0.17%). 27/11/19 13:44BST.

Over a fortnight ago, it was announced that both HSBC (LON: HSBA) and RBS were set to roll out their respective new digital banking platforms.

As HSBC prepares to roll out HSBC Kinetic, RBS is putting the finishing touches onto Bó.

The Bó app is designed to encourage customers to budget and save better, alerting them if they overspend.

This has come as a response where banks such as RBS, HSBC and Lloyd’s (LON: LLOY) have seen a slump in their third quarter profits.

The expansion of brands such as Monzo and Starling Bank has put pressure on the heavyweight banking firms to conjure up a response to the use of new fintech.

Bó will target the 16.8 million Britons with savings less than £100.

Bó Chief Executive Mark Bailie told reporters on Wednesday the venture could offer its parent cheaper funding by amassing customer deposits on its lower cost banking platform, although he did not say how much the bank had spent on the project.

RBS are still majority publicly owned after the financial crash in 2008 led to a public bailout, and its biggest brand Natwest serves over 16 million customers.

Bailie said Bó aimed to attract what he described as a “material” number of customers relative to NatWest within five years. “A few hundred thousand customers doesn’t make any difference to the bank,” he said, without giving a precise target.

From recent market data, start-ups such as Monzo and Starling have picked up thousands of new customers this year from rivals, leading to the creation of these mobile banking platforms.

“We’re blocking them at the front door,” Bailie said, adding such attacks were expected for new online ventures.

Bailie said Bó, which offers similar functions to other digital banks, would differentiate itself with its focus on helping customers budget better.

“We’ve got a big data set, and the data set says that customers have a broken relationship with money,” Bailie said.

Cairn Energy PLC (LON: CNE) have announced the sale of their Norwegian operations to Solveig Gas in an update to shareholders on Wednesday.

Cairn Energy PLC is one of Europe’s leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies.

Shares of Cairn Energy are trading at 180p (-0.17%). 27/11/19 13:27BST.

The sale was announced for a fee of $100 million, which will also mean that Cairn Energy will exit operations and business in Norway.

The sale will allow Cairn to reduce its committees exploration and development spending by around $100 million.

The proceeds of the sale will be reinvested into existing operations, Cairn added.

Chief Executive Simon Thomson said: “This is a further attractive transaction for Cairn shareholders in line with our consistent strategy to realise value and redeploy capital within our portfolio.

“We continue to have a material business in the UK North Sea where the production performance of the Kraken and Catcher assets remains strong. We wish all of the team in Stavanger every success in the future.”

FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed Cairn has assets in the Americas, Africa, and the UK, including the producing Catcher and Kraken fields in the North Sea.

The deal is expected to be completed by early 2020 and remain subject to written consent by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, partner and third-party approvals.

This is an interesting move by Cairn, and the exiting of these Norwegian operations doesn’t seem to have worried shareholders as much as expected.

The energy market is becoming increasingly tough to trade in as reputable names such as Shell (LON: RDSA) have seen a slip in their third quarter profits amid volatile oil prices.

Additionally, smaller names such as i3 Energy (LON: I3E) and AFC Energy (LON: AFC) have seen their shares crash in the last week.

Ab Dynamics PLC (LON: ABDP) have seen their shares plummet on Wednesday despite giving shareholders a very strong annual update.

AB Dynamics are a firm that supply integrated test systems for the global automative industry. Their products are integral to the testing and development of cars and automobiles.

Shares of AB Dynamics plummeted 8.12% to 2,618p. 27/11/19 12:22BST.

The firm reported that profit growth had surged 40% but gave shareholders a gloomy outlook for financial 20.

The global automative industry has seen slumps and firms have been attempting to respond to slowing business.

Firms such as Nissan (TYO: 7201) and Suzuki (TYO: 7269) have seen their shares slip following production guidance cuts.

Additionally, Renault (EPA: RNO) and Volkswagen (ETR: VOW3) gave shareholders a gloomy outlook, much too similar to AB.

The firm reported a pretax profit of £11.0 million for the 12 months to August 31, 38% higher than the year before. The adjusted figure was up 59% to £13.7 million.

“The group’s performance in 2019 was very strong, delivered through continued development of new products and services to a buoyant market for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicle development,” said Chief Executive James Routh.

It was a tenth successive year of record revenue and adjusted profit, AB Dynamics noted, with the market background “very favourable”.

“The outturn also benefited from our success in reducing our lead times, which had lengthened with strong levels of demand, to more appropriate levels,” it added.

Looking ahead, the company is investing “heavily” into new product development. The order book is “healthy”, it continued, and the outlook is healthy despite the difficulties some customers are facing selling into a weak global automotive market.

AB reported a 50% rise in track testing revenue to £49.8 million, while lab testing and simulation revenue more than doubled to £8.2 million.

Firms have attempted to combat slow business through mergers, as seen with Fiat Chrysler (NYSE: FCAU) and Peugeot (EPA: UG).

Despite the impressive update, shareholders seem to be more worried about the gloomy outlook that has been given by AB which has reflected movements in the stock price across Wednesday trading.

The private banking division of HSBC (LON: HSBA) have given shareholders a positive update, as the firm saw double digit asset and revenue growth spawned from strong Asian business.

Shares of HSBC are trading at 587p (+0.81%). 27/11/19 10:50BST.

The firm said that they are aggressively pursuing double digit growth in client assets and revenues, following a surge in Asian wealth, according to Reuters.

Antonio Simoes, the divisions chief executive said that the bank aims to increase its presence in the Asian markets, with an emphasis on China.

“The strategy to achieve double-digit asset and revenue growth is working,” said Simoes, who assumed his role in January. “And as part of that, Asia is by far the region that is growing the most.”

The global banking sector has appeared to be in decline, as both HSBC and Lloyd’s (LON: LLOY) saw declines in their third quarter profits.

Additionally, Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK) have also fallen victim to tough trading conditions, and reported a third quarter loss.

The FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) listed global bank however does seem to have made a recovery in its private banking division which will appease shareholders.

In Asia, there has been higher economic growth, rising wages and a thriving business enterprise mindset which has allowed HSBC to grow, following both operational and structural changes in their global strategy.

Assets managed by HSBC’s private banking unit rose 9.4% in the first nine months of 2019 to $338 billion (£263 billion), while revenue rose 4.6% versus the same period a year earlier to $1.4 billion. The unit is the smallest contributor to group revenue at 3%.

Asia accounts for 42% of HSBC’s total private banking assets, making it the single largest market and accounts for the biggest share of the banks overall revenue.

Despite political tensions and ongoing feud in Hong Kong, HSBC have said that they will not let this battle of political and geographical sovereignty affect business.

“Our third-quarter results showed very resilient performance for Hong Kong against the backdrop of what’s happening,” he said. “From a private banking perspective, we continue to have targets for Hong Kong that are very ambitious.”

HSBC’s private banking growth plans come as interim CEO Noel Quinn reviews the lender’s worldwide businesses as part of an audition for the full-time role under Chairman Mark Tucker.

“Going forward, we want to be bigger in onshore China and we are looking at how to do that as regulations change,” Simoes said.

“If you take a 10-year view, we will need to be bigger in onshore China.”