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.

Geneva  - The largest Swiss bank, UBS, will hand over the names of 250 of its clients to the United States Justice Department, a Geneva-based newspaper reported, in a move that goes against the Alpine country's longstanding bank secrecy principles.

Without naming its source, Le Temps said the bank would divulge the information as part of an ongoing investigation against UBS in the US alleging that it helped clients there evade paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes since the beginning of the decade.

Frankfurt  - Volkswagen's banking unit said it was cleared Wednesday to receive 2 billion euros (2.6 billion dollars) in guarantees from Germany's bank bailout fund, Soffin.

The finance unit, which lends to people who buy Volkswagen Group cars, but also operates as an online bank, is the first car company bank to receive backing from the fund. No immediate comment could be obtained from Soffin in Frankfurt.

Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), said that his bank can cut interest rate in case the Reserve Bank takes steps to reduce lending rates in the market, making the fund cost cheaper for banks.

Hoping reduction in key interest rates, Mr. Parekh said, "Banks are funding (parking) Rs 40,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore with RBI under the reverse repo window. (This means) there is enough liquidity in the system and that is why there is a likelihood of interest rates coming down."

India's third largest car manufacturer, Tata Motors entered in an agreement with public sector bank, the Central Bank of India, to avail finance facilities for all categories of vehicles.

The bank would offer loan at interest rate of 10.5 per cent for 3 years tenure and 11.5 per cent for more than 3 years, covering 85 per cent of the road price of car.

Berlin - The German government set the framework Wednesday for the state nationalization of failing banks as a measure of last resort.

The cabinet approved legislation on so-called rescue takeover procedures, government sources said Wednesday.

The ruling is specifically tailored to troubled mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate, and states that any nationalization process would need to be initiated by late June.

The legislation stresses that a complete state takeover of a bank would be the final resort in efforts to help stabilize Germany's financial markets.