Zurich - Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse said Thursday it returned to the black in the second quarter of 2008, with net earnings of 1.2 billion francs (1.16 billion dollars).

The figure was 62 per cent below the second-quarter 2007 result, but an improvement after the bank had lost 2.15 billion francs in the first quarter this year reflecting the turbulence in the subprime mortgage sector.

Credit Suisse said that in the second quarter all three of its divisions - private banking, investment banking and wealth management - operated at a profit.

IDBI Bank, a leading public sector lender, has reported a net profit of Rs 160 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, up 4% as against Rs 153 crore in the corresponding quarter ended June 30, 2007.  

The total income for the reporting quarter rose 24.94% to Rs 2,740 crore from Rs 2,193 crore in the year-ago period.

Recently, Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) has signed a pact with IDBI Bank for issuing of stamp certificates and collection of money on its behalf as Authorised Collection Centre.  

Farmers would now be able to have better agricultural growth with the support of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development ( Nabard).  The bank is aiming at facilitating agricultural lending among small and marginal farmers. Nabard would be helping the needy farmers by setting up directly self-help groups (SHGs), which would be directly credit-linked with banks.

Country’s largest international bank Standard Chartered Bank has announced the launch of the ‘Smart Credit Gold Overdraft’, a product designed to ensure that customers receive the maximum value fro

Charlotte, United States  - Bank of America, the second- largest US financial institution, posted profits for the second quarter of 3.4 billion dollars that were down on last year but well above expectations.

The bank said it had been compelled to make write-downs of 1.2 billion dollars as a result of the continuing financial crisis.

Net revenue for the quarter rose to a record 20.3 billion dollars.

London - Britain's HBOS bank, one of the first to turn to investors for a cash boost, said Monday that less than 10 per cent of its shareholders had taken part in a rights issue of 4 billion pounds (8 billion dollars). 

Halifax Bank of Scotland said just 8.29 per cent of investors opted to buy heavily discounted shares as part of the scheme to help strengthen its balance sheet, announced in April. 

This means that the rights issue's underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort, have to find buyers for more than 3.6 billion pounds worth of shares by Tuesday's deadline, or accept the stock themselves if they fail to do so.