Switzerland said Monday it was investigating a range of banks, including domestic leaders UBS and Credit Suisse along with top global houses, over suspicions they manipulated currency markets.

The probe includes JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland as well as the Zurich cantonal bank ZKB and private banking group Julius Baer, the Competition Commission (COMCO) said in a statement.

Samsung SDI, the world's largest smartphone battery maker, said Monday it would absorb an affiliate producing electronic chemical materials, in the latest restructuring of the giant Samsung Group.

The firm said it would complete the merger with Cheil Industries by July 1 through a stock swap. Both firms are units of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest business conglomerate.

French public deficit and debt in 2013 were higher than previous government estimates, official data showed on Monday, dealing a fresh blow to President Francois Hollande a day after disastrous local polls.

French public deficit stood at 4.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with 4.9 percent the previous year, according to data released by the INSEE statistics agency. Previous government estimates said it would stand at 4.1 percent.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has been elected the new head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at a summit of the 15-nation regional bloc, his Ivorian predecessor announced on Saturday.

"I am very happy to tell you that yesterday (Friday) my peers... decided to name as head of ECOWAS, my brother and friend John Dramani Mahama, the president of the Republic of Ghana," said Ivory Coast's leader Alassane Ouattara in a speech at the closing of the ECOWAS summit.

The telephone empire of billionaire Carlos Slim and Mexico's dominant broadcaster never see eye to eye, but they now have a common enemy: the government's telecommunications reform plan.

President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration introduced in the Senate this week legislation to implement the constitutional reform that passed in the Congress last year.

Taiwan tech giant Hon Hai Precision, the world's largest contract manufacturer for electronics, saw its net profit rise 12.7 percent on-year in 2013, bolstered by demand for Apple's new products.

Hon Hai, better-known as Foxconn, is the world's biggest iPhone and iPad maker and saw its profits rise thanks to the release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in September 2013.

Moody's put Russia's credit rating on review for a possible downgrade Friday, saying the Ukraine crisis could exacerbate its already troubled economy.

The ratings agency's Investor Service said that if the review confirms that Russia's economic strength is being eroded by the situation, it could lead to a one-notch cut in the country's Baa1 rating.

General Motors recalled nearly 1.5 million vehicles on Friday including for possible problems with ignitions blamed for 12 deaths.

Last month, GM called back 1.6 million cars amid questions over why it had taken years to address an ignition defect it knew about as early as 2001.

The world's richest countries will borrow less from the market this year than at any time since 2007, the OECD said Friday, as governments tighten their belts in the wake of the debt crisis.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated that the net new borrowing needs of its 34 member countries would fall to $1.5 trillion (1.09 trillion euros) this year.

There is "no sensible alternative" to Russian gas to meet Europe's energy needs, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Friday.

Many people acted as if there plenty of other sources from which Europe could draw its gas, but this is not the case, Gabriel told a energy forum organised by the local daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung on Thursday.