Frankfurt - German banks across the board have been steadily winning new customers as the financial crisis mounts, statistics released Thursday show.

Rather than withdrawing money from banks to hide under the mattress, Germans appear to regard banks as the safest place, especially after a promise last month by Chancellor Angela Merkel that not one euro in banks will be lost.

The country's top commercial bank, Deutsche Bank, said Thursday on its website its customer base had grown net by 200,000 since the start of the year to nearly 10 million.

New York - Citigroup extended its financial losses for a fourth quarter, registering a loss of 2.8 billion dollars for the period between July and September.

The bank attributed part of its loss to nearly 10 billion dollars in writedowns from loans gone bad and securities that have lost value.

Zurich - Switzerland's two leading banks were forced Thursday to seek out new capital injections as the nation became the latest country forced to unveil a bail-out plan in the wake of the global financial crisis.

While UBS AG, the nation's biggest bank, turned to the government for 6 billion Swiss francs (5.2 billion dollars) in additional capital, Credit Suisse Group AG said it was raising 10 billion Swiss francs from private investors and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Credit Suisse's announcement came as Switzerland's second biggest bank posted a 1.3-billion-franc third-quarter loss following further writedowns resulting from the world financial crisis.

Dublin - Banks participating in the Irish government's deposit guarantee plan will contribute a total of 1 billion euros (1.34 billion dollars) to make the scheme work, according to national broadcaster RTE.

The state, which announced specifics of the plan on Wednesday, will raise the money over two years, RTE reported.

Any bank that made use of the guarantee would also be expected to eventually repay the government.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said the move will take the Irish government deep into the banking system, RTE reported.

The original plan called for 440 billion euros in deposit guarantees at the six Irish-owned banks.

The reserve bank is likely to take more steps to increase liquidity in the market. The bank expressed satisfaction on the Indian market conditions. The reserve bank governor, D Subbarao apprised the government about the Indian financial conditions. He met Prime Minster Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday to discuss financial matters. Planning Commission deputy chairperson, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and finance secretary, Arun Ramanathan were also present during the meeting at PM residence.

ICICI Bank, Country's third largest lender and British Airways have jointly launched a co-branded credit card called 'ICICI Bank British Airways American Express Credit Card' in the market. 

The bank claims that, the card provides one of the fastest ways to earn complimentary flights using a credit card in India. The card will give new and existing members an opportunity to accelerate their BA Miles earnings.