Akshaya Prasad, the infrastructure head of financial services bigwig Goldman Sachs, has resigned after his nine-year stint at the company. He has joined private equity firm Greater Pacific Capital, where he has been appointed the co-head of Greater Pacific's India business.

Financial

With Bajaj already has life insurance and general insurance business tie-ups with Allianz since eight years, the Rahul Bajaj-owned Bajaj Finserv lately entered into a shareholders' deal with Allianz Global Investors, which is venturing into the asset management arena in India.

The Munich, Germany-based insurer will hold a majority stake of 51 percent in the asset management joint venture.

Industrial Development Bank of India Limited (IDBI) a leading public sector bank, has revealed its plan to raise capital worth Rs 5,000 crore through senior, upper and lower Tier II bonds in 2009-10.

The decision was taken by the company to shore up its capital adequacy ratio for supporting business growth.

Washington  - US accounting standards were relaxed Thursday to allow banks to take a longer-term view on the value of toxic mortgage assets, which have already cost the industry more than 1 trillion dollars and lie at the heart of the financial crisis.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), an industry group, voted that banks would not have to tie the value of mortgage securities to current market prices.

Industry body, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) asked for lower interest rates in the range of 7 to 8 per cent for infrastructure projects in the country, blaming high lending rates a major cause of stagnation in the growth rate.

FICCI Chairman, Harsh Pati Singhania, while addressing the inauguration summit on infrastructure, said, "The rise in interest rates for project financing in the country have increased and are jeopardizing the financial viability of projects under the PPP mode."