Amman - Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi announced Thursday that the government would guarantee all bank deposits in the country until the end of 2009.

"All bank deposits, without any ceiling, will be guaranteed by the government until the end of 2009," Dahabi told board chairmen and general managers of local commercial banks whom he met at the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ).

Dahabi and CBJ governor Umayyah Touqan assured the bank executives that the country's banking system was not experiencing any liquidity shortage or any credit crisis.

Stockholm - Shares for main Swedish banking groups Nordea, Swedbank and SEB on Thursday declined after they reported third-quarter 2008 results.

While the reports suggested they had weathered the first phases of the financial turmoil, the banks' outlooks were more cautious.

Shares for the three groups initially opened in positive territory but fell off. Swedbank was down 8 per cent and SEB off some 5 per cent early afternoon on the Stockholm bourse.

The fourth major group Handelsbanken, which reported Wednesday, bucked the trend and remained up.

Karur Vysya Bank has informed that it has signed a

Stockholm - Main Swedish banking groups Nordea, Swedbank and SEB on Thursday reported third-quarter results suggesting they had weathered the first phases of the financial turmoil.

Shares for all three groups were mid-morning in positive territory on the Stockholm bourse where the OMXS index was flat. The fourth major group Handelsbanken, which reported Wednesday, was also up.

Banking group Swedbank said its third-quarter operating profit was 3.1 billion kronor (395 million dollars), down 15 per cent year-on-year, while total income in the quarter was 8.2 billion kronor or 13 per cent lower than in second-quarter 2008.

Zurich - Credit Suisse became the first major European bank to unveil its third-quarter earnings Thursday warning that the banking business faced continuing tough conditions after the big Swiss bank confirmed a 1.26 billion Swiss-franc (1.08 billion dollars) quarterly loss.

Unveiling the third quarter results, the chief of Switzerland's second biggest bank Brady Dougan said: "We expect the market environment to remain very challenging and we are cautious with regard to the outlook for the fourth quarter."

Dougan went on to say that the third-quarter result was "clearly disappointing" but "understandable" considering the turmoil that has engulfed financial markets in recent weeks.

Stockholm - Sweden's central bank said Thursday it was to cut its interest rate by 0.50 percentage points to 3.75 per cent, the second cut this month.

The cut was to take effect October 29, the Riksbank said.

The bank's board of governors said "the interest rate cuts are aimed at alleviating the effects of the financial crisis" and added that the inflation target of 2 per cent remained.

Sweden was also experiencing the impact of the global financial crisis, and the economy was slowing down, the Riksbank said, adding that effects included higher loan costs for companies and households.