Washington - Wall Street's top executives on Wednesday defended the hundreds of billions of dollars their struggling firms have received in government bail-out funds, insisting the money has helped improve lending to consumers.

Many also recognized the sharp degree of public outrage at the slow recovery process and accepted some responsibility for the near- collapse of the US and global financial system.

Stockholm - Nordic Banking Group Nordea on  Tuesday said it would strengthen its capital base by 3 billion euros (3.89 billion dollars), by offering a 2.5-billion-euro rights issue and lowering its dividend.

The announcement was made as the bank released its fourth quarter 2008 results in which operating profits dropped 28 per cent to 781 million euros.

Total operating income in the quarter increased 5 per cent to 2.25 billion euros, while loan losses totalled 320 million euros in the quarter. The losses were mainly attributed to Denmark, but also to other Nordic markets and the Baltic states, Nordea said.

Geneva - UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, announced restructuring plans on Tuesday after reporting losses of 8.1 billion Swiss francs (6.9 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The bank's total 2008 losses amounted to more than 19.6 billion francs, going beyond the expectations of many analysts. The bank said it would cut an additional 2,000 jobs at its investment wing.

"UBS has had an encouraging start to the year," the bank reported in a statement, saying that it had positive net new money. "However, financial market conditions remain fragile as company and household cash flows continue to deteriorate."

This is an intraday call for the day traders who want to make sound profit in today’s trading session.

According to the analysts, ICICI Bank can be purchased with the stop loss of Rs 418 to achieve the intraday target of Rs 442. If the stock remains positive then the stock may be purchased for the next intraday target of Rs 450.

London- Barclays Bank Monday reported pre-tax profits of 6.08 billion pounds (9 billion dollars) for 2008 as a fierce debate about bonus payments in the banking industry raged in Britain.

The result, boosted by last year's acquisition by Barclays of assets of Lehman Brothers, the failed US investment bank, remained nonetheless 14 per cent below its 2007 figures.

Barclays chief executive John Varley described the results as "quite good" given that 2008 had been an "extraordinarily challenging year" for the banking sector.

Indian Consumers will be happy to know that finance ministry, along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) are presently in talks to bring interest rates further down.

The rate cut are expected to reflect in segments like home, auto and personal loans.