Sydney  - Australian banks Tuesday pulled the rug from under debt-laden local leveraged buy-out specialist Allco Finance Group.

Receivers were appointed for Allco and its shares placed in a trading halt after talks with the 12 banks failed to reach agreement on a repayment schedule for debts of 667 million Australian dollars (446 million US dollars).

The share price had tumbled from an all-time high of 13 Australian dollars in February 2007 to just 14 Australian cents.

Allco, one of the highest profile local victims of the credit crunch, two years ago was the leader of a failed leverage buy-out of national carrier Qantas Airways.

Zurich - Swiss banking giant UBS AG reported Tuesday its first profit in four quarters.

The world's biggest wealth manager, which has emerged as one of the major victims of the recent round of financial turmoil triggered by the US mortgage market meltdown, reported a third-quarter profit of 296 million Swiss francs (256.3 million dollars).

The Zurich-based bank said last month it planned to raise 6 billion Swiss francs from the government and it planned to shift 60 billion Swiss francs of toxic assets to a special Swiss central bank fund.

Sao Paulo - Banco Itau Holding Financeira SA agreed to acquire Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros SA on Monday, creating Brazil's biggest bank.

The Brazilian government applauded the merger and said it would make the country's financial system stronger.

"That new bank is set to become one of the largest financial institutions in the world," said Finance Minister Guido Mantega. He described the merger as "an important event, because they are two traditional, solid banks that will become even more solid."

Sao Paulo - Banco Itau Holding Financeira SA agreed to acquire Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros SA, creating Brazil's biggest bank.

According to a statement from the banks made public Monday in Sao Paulo, the merger is set to create "the largest private financial group in the southern hemisphere" and among the 20 largest in the world.

"It is a financial institution with the capacity to compete in the international stage with the world's great banks," said the statement issued by Itausa and Unibanco Holdings, which control both banks.

Frankfurt - Two key German banks announced Monday they were tapping the government's 470-billion-bank-euro (600-billion-dollar) rescue fund in the wake of the world financial crisis.

While Germany's second biggest bank Commerzbank AG said it was seeking an 8.2 billion-euro capital injection after reporting a third-quarter loss, state controlled HSH Nordbank AG said it had turned to the fund for 30 billion euros in debt guarantees after posting a nine-month loss.