Reykjavik - Iceland's central bank lowered its key interest rate on Wednesday from 15.5 to 12 per cent, bending to increasing public pressure for a cut to ease the North Atlantic island's financial woes.

The central bank, or Sedlabanki, on Tuesday drew on swap facilities with Denmark and Norway, borrowing some 200 million euros (273 million dollars) from each.

Meanwhile negotiations with government officials in Moscow are ongoing over a Russian loan to Iceland of some 400 billion euros. Following the nationalization of Iceland's three largest banks last week, lack of funds to industry and commerce has become a pressing issue.

New Delhi, Oct 15 : The Reserve Bank and the government today agreed to take measures immediately to infuse liquidity into the system.

"RBI Governor D Subbarao will work out the details of the measures agreed upon between the government and the central bank," said Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

I expect to be able to make a statement later in the afternoon, he added.

RBI Governor D Subbarao last evening called on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. P. Chidambaram was present at the meeting.

Paris - The French Senate was due Wednesday to debate and vote on the government's 360-billion-euro (490-billion-dollar) bank rescue plan after the bill passed the lower National Assembly by a huge margin.

The bill passed its first hurdle late Tuesday when the National Assembly approved it by 224 to 23 votes, sending the plan for final approval in the Senate.

The plan, announced Monday by President Nicolas Sarkozy, will make available up to 320 billion euros to guarantee interbank loans and another 40 billion euros for the recapitalization of struggling banks.

Opposition Socialist lawmakers said they supported the plan but abstained from voting because they said it only addressed the financial crisis, not the economic crisis.

A net profit of Rs 402.91 crore was posted by Axis Bank durin

Manila - The World Bank committed 10 billion dollars in a standby fund to help member countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) weather the global economic crisis, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Wednesday.

Arroyo said the bank issued the commitment after the 10-country ASEAN and its partners Japan, China and South Korea agreed at the weekend to set up a mechanism that would help cash-strapped ASEAN members.

The largest private bank, ICICI Bank assured the customers that their money is safe with the bank and customers need not to worry about any thing. The bank has no sub prime investment and it has a small exposure in the US market.

The chairman of the ICICI bank, KV Kamath said that the bank has no problem of liquidity and it is well capitalized. He said that some market forces are spreading rumours about economic health of the bank. The bank maintains more than sufficient funds for successful monetary operations.