BANKING

Daiwa Bank Pleads Innocent to Criminal Charges: Attorneys for the Japanese bank entered the plea during a two-minute proceeding before a U.S. magistrate in New York. The plea was expected. The bank faces 24 criminal charges that include making false statements to regulators and obstructing examinations of its offices. Judge Kimba M. Wood, who served Michael Milken with an unexpectedly long sentence in 1990 for securities fraud, was assigned the case at random. Wood scheduled a pretrial conference for the case for Thursday.