Bern  - The Swiss Federal Council rejected criticism Friday which had been directed at the Alpine nation over tax issues, saying that privacy in banking remained intact.

In a statement, the council, the executive branch of government, said it would, however, work "to improve cooperation with other countries in the area of tax offences."

The Council added that "it is prepared to enter into dialogue with third countries on the taxation of savings income." To do so, it set up a "group of experts," which includes civil servants, bankers and academics, to advise the government.

London  - The Bank of England (BoE) Thursday applied the twin tools of interest rate cuts and a boost in the money supply to revive the recession-hit economy.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut the key lending rate by 50 basis points to 0.5 per cent and injected an initial 75 billion pounds (105 billion dollars) into the economy through so- called quantitative easing.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the injection of liquidity was "absolutely essential to get the economy moving."

Tata Motors, India's largest passenger automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company, has informed that it has joined hands with public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) for financing its entire range of passenger cars.

The latest tie-up will provide a single window for both cars as well as car loans and will make car buying easier for customers.

The lender offers car loans up to 90 per cent of invoice for tenure ranging up to seven years at a rate of 10.5 per cent to 11 per cent.

Copenhagen  - Denmark's c

Frankfurt  - The European Central Bank (ECB) cut rates for the fifth time in six months Thursday, lowering borrowing costs to an historic low and signalling further reductions in the coming months after it slashed its growth and inflation forecasts.

Thursday's hefty 50-basis-point reduction brought the ECB's benchmark refinancing rate down to 1.5 per cent and followed an announcement in London that the Bank of England (BoE) monetary policy committee had also trimmed the cost of money by 50 basis points.

State-owned banks trim interest rates on fresh bout of liquidity, but private banks unrelenting to follow suit

Raghu Nair recently pre-paid his home loan with a leading private bank and switched over to a public sector bank (PSB) which charged him a much lower interest rate. The 32 year-old businessman is making a neat saving of approximately Rs 3,000 on his EMI’s every month with the switchover.