Hong Kong - Banks in Hong Kong, China and Macau have been asked to help finance construction of a 37-billion-Hong-Kong-dollar (4.74-billion-US-dollar) bridge across the Pearl River estuary, government officials said Monday.

The institutions, including some of the region's largest financial players including HSBC, Standard Chartered and the Bank of China, have been approached to see if they are willing to partially bankroll the 35-kilometre-long link.

Singapore - Though the international financial system is still under significant stress, Singapore's markets remain stable and its banks face no funding difficulties in the interbank market, parliament was told Monday.

Nevertheless, the government decided last week to provide a guarantee of 150 billion Singapore dollars (101.62 billion US dollars) for deposits of individuals and non-bank customers in Singapore-based banks.

"If Singapore had not introduced a similar guarantee, there was a real risk that depositors would have shifted some of their deposits out of Singapore banks, to banks in other jurisdictions which guarantee deposits," Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said.

Paris - The head of the French bank Caisse d'Epargne has resigned after taking responsibility for a trading loss of 600 million euros (811 million dollars), French media reported Monday.

Charles Milhaud, who had led the Caisse d'Epargne since 1999, resigned late Sunday after a special meeting of the bank's board of supervisors. Milhaud said he would ask for no severance payment.

In addition, his chief executive officer, Nicolas Merindol, and the board member in charge of finances and risks, Julien Carmona, also resigned their posts.

Washington, Oct 20: The International Monetary Fund chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has welcomed South Korea's move to join international rescue efforts to ease pressures in the local dollar funding market.

"The announced guarantee of banks' external liabilities will bring Korea''s policies closer in line with advanced countries, including some in the region, and help ease pressures in the local dollar funding market," The News quoted Strauss-Kahn, as saying.