Tokyo - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) injected 1.5 trillion yen (14.3 billion dollars) into the money market Thursday to stabilize the markets affected by the fallout from the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers earlier this week.

Japan's central bank moved on its emergency operation for the third day.

BOJ pumped 5.5 trillion yen into the markets over the last two days, while banks said potential losses from the collapse were relatively small as they had limited their exposure.

London - Lloyds Bank in Britain has agreed to a merger with the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, creating a banking giant that will dominate the savings and mortgage markets, the BBC reported late Wednesday.

The boards of the two banks agreed to the deal after crisis talks in London, at a price of 232 pence per HBOS share, valuating the mortgage lender at 12 billion pounds (21 billion dollars).

London - Lloyds Bank in Britain has agreed to a merger with the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, creating a banking giant that will dominate the savings and mortgage markets, the BBC reported late Wednesday.

The boards of the two banks agreed to the deal after crisis talks in London, at a price of 232 pence per HBOS share, valuating the mortgage lender at 12 billion pounds (21 billion dollars).

London  - Lloyds Bank in Britain has agreed to a merger deal with the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, creating a banking giant that will dominate the savings and mortgage market, the BBC reported late Wednesday.

The boards of the two banks agreed to the deal after crisis talks in London, at a price of 232 pence per HBOS share, valuing the mortgage lender at 12 billion pounds (21 billion dollars).

The deal was due to be officially announced Thursday.

London - A potentially giant banking merger loomed in Britain Wednesday as top mortgage lender HBOS confirmed it was in "advanced talks" with Lloyds TSB, the country's fourth-biggest bank.

Confirmation of the merger talks, coming after days of HBOS shares being buffeted in the aftermath of the collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers, was met with surprise in London's financial district.

Analysts raised competition issues and said the move smacked of panic, as it emerged that the government and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) were backing the merger talks amid concerns over a possible run on HBOS - or Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Barcelona, Spain - A Spanish opponent of capitalism defrauded 39 banks of 492,000 euros (699,820 dollars) to "denounce the banking system," media reported Wednesday.

Enric Duran, 32, sought credits for buying a flat, a car or for investments by companies which only existed in name.

He gave false information about his profession and income without being discovered by the banks' security filters, the daily El Mundo reported.

Duran used the credits to launch a magazine called "Crisis. Free publication to survive economic turbulences," which was being distributed Wednesday in the Barcelona area.