Madrid  - The central bank of Spain, a country whose banking system has remained largely untouched in the ongoing world financial crisis, has intervened to save regional savings institution Caja Castilla-La Mancha (CCM), the government said Sunday evening.

The Bank of Spain took control of CCM on Sunday and removed its board of directors, the government said.

Spain's Finance and Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said the savings bank had a large liquidity problem, in comments after a cabinet meeting.

Washington  - Some of the nation's top bank chiefs told President Barack Obama Friday that they would work with him towards the economic recovery, and agreed on the need for an overhaul of financial market regulations.

"Were all in this together," John Stumpf, the head of Wells Fargo & Co, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg financial news service after the meeting. "Were trying to do the right thing for America."

Washington - US President Barack Obama was to court support from banking executives later Friday in an effort to transcend the furious standoff between the public and the industry over bailouts and bonuses.

The meeting at the White House was to include chief executive officers Vikram Pandit of Citigroup Inc, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

A total of 15 executives from the nation's largest banks were to join the meeting, Bloomberg financial news service reported.

Union Bank of India, one of India's largest state-run banks, announced that it has raised an additional capital of Rs 140 crore through issue of subordinated perpetual bonds.

The issue opened on March 19 and was closed on March 25, as against original closure date of March 26, 2009.

The bonds allotment will be finished on March 30, 2009.

The bonds carry a coupon rate of 9.10%, which will be payable on an annual basis.

Beijing  - Two major US financial firms are considering selling some of their shares in China's biggest commercial bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), according to reports seen on Thursday.

A joint agreement on Wednesday leaves Goldman Sachs free to sell up to 20 per cent of its stake in ICBC, the Chinese bank said in a statement.

Goldman Sachs holds 4.93 per cent of ICBC's shares, with an estimated value of 7.5 billion dollars.

Oslo  - The Norwegian central bank on Wednesday lowered its lead rate a further 0.50 percentage points to 2.00 per cent, as part of attempts to reduce the impact of the weakened global economy on Norway.

The new cut takes effect Thursday, the central bank said.

Norges Bank deputy governor Jan F Qvigstad said in a statement that "the outlook for the global economy has deteriorated."