Paris - The world economic crisis will last well into 2010 unless the global banking sector is restructured and cleansed of its toxic assets, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned Thursday in Paris.

"If there is no clean-up of the banks, most of the stimulus will be lost," Dominique Strauss-Kahn said, adding: "Things are moving too slowly."

"We are still looking for a recovery at the beginning of 2010, but only if the right policies are implemented," Strauss-Kahn said at a press conference opening the OECD Global Forum on Competition in Paris.

Paris - French bank BNP Paribas said Thursday that its profits fell by 61.4 per cent, to 3.02 billion euros (3.8 billion dollars), in 2008.

The fall in profits was primarily due to a loss of 2 billion euros by its Finance and Investment Bank, because of the effects of the bankruptcy of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers, the bank said in a press statement.

BNP Paribas said it had lost 1.37 billion euros in the fourth quarter of last year, as the financial crisis deepened.

While turnover fell a fraction to 27 billion euros, the bank said it would slash dividend payments from 3.35 euros last year to 1 euro in
2009.

Vienna - Raiffeisen Bank reported a record net profit of 982 million euros (1.24 billion dollars) for 2008 on Thursday, although the Austrian bank operating in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experienced a difficult fourth quarter.

Since last May, Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG's stocks have lost 88 per cent of their value, as investors, seeking to reduce risk, unloaded shares of banks exposed in the CEE region.

The bank said it had reduced the number of foreign-currency loans, stopped expanding its branches and reduced staff numbers in Hungary and Ukraine.

Amsterdam - Dutch ABN Amro/Fortis bank's new management board was presented by its chairman Gerrit Zalm to the media on Thursday.

Three of the seven new members originate from ABN Amro: Chris Vogelzang, Wietze Reehoorn and Johan van Hall. Jan van Rutte from Fortis was appointed financial director and deputy chairman.

The other two members are Joop Wijn, former top manager at Rabobank, and Caroline Prince from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Nicosia, Feb 19: Ahli United Bank of Bahrain has announced that its net profit for 2008 amounted to 255.7 million dollars, while its total operating income rose to 665.5 million dollars.

Compared to 2007, the net profit of the bank was 296.3 million dollars, but the lower profits are attributed to a higher level of net loan provisions of 96.8 million dollars to ensure adequate coverage of problematic exposures and maintenance of asset quality in a prudent manner.

Geneva/Washington  - The largest Swiss bank, UBS AG, will pay 780 million dollars in fines to avoid prosecution and settle claims of conspiring to help thousands of wealthy US citizens use Swiss bank accounts to evade taxes, the US Justice Department said Wednesday.