Fortis names new CEO after shares plunge

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Fortis NV named a new chief executive officer on Friday, after the banking and insurance company's shares fell 21 percent over worries about its solvency.

Filip Dierckx, 52, was appointed to replace Herman Verwilst, who was named interim CEO in July after the abrupt departure of Jean-Paul Votron.

Dierckx previously led Fortis's banking arm. Verwilst is to remain on the management board, Fortis said.

KB Home 3Q loss widens as housing slump drags on

LOS ANGELES -- KB Home, one of the nation's largest home builders, said Friday its third-quarter loss quadrupled from the year-ago period, missing Wall Street's expectations as revenue plunged by 56 percent amid falling sales and home prices.

Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said weak demand for new homes -- half of the company's home buyers backed out of their contracts in the quarter -- and falling home values don't appear likely to improve significantly in the near term. He also blamed rising foreclosures and tight lending standards for the company's poor results.

The Los Angeles-based company reported a net loss of $144.7 million, or $1.87 a share, for the three months ended Aug. 31. Those results paled compared to the loss of $35.6 million, or 46 cents a share, in the same period last year, when KB Home recorded a generous gain from the sale of its French operations.

But without those gains, the year-ago losses totaled a whopping $478.6 million, or $6.19 a share.

HSBC cuts 1,100 jobs worldwide

HONG KONG -- HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank by market value, is cutting 1,100 jobs worldwide in the wake of the financial turmoil, a spokesman said Friday.

The London-based lender is laying off 4 percent of its global banking and market division, with half of them taking place in the bank's operation in Britain.

HSBC has a 335,000-strong work force globally, and so the job cuts will only hit 0.3 percent of its total employees.