Stockholm  - Swedish banking group Swedbank Monday said it was to withhold its planned dividend for 2008, citing "a continued deterioration of macroeconomic conditions" in several markets including the neighbouring Baltics.

A month ago, the bank's board had proposed a dividend of 2.9 billion kronor (315 million dollars) for the financial year 2008. The dividend was to be halved to 4.50 kronor per share.

New York  - Business partners of the insurance giant AIG have, since the firm was bailed out by the US government in September 2008, received some 50 billion dollars in payments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Beneficiaries of bail-out funds from the firm number some two dozen, including the Goldman Sachs group and Germany's Deutsche Bank AG, the paper said.

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank each received some 6 billion dollars in payments between September and December 2008, to cover exposures they had at the failing insurer.

Bern  - The Swiss Federal Council rejected criticism Friday which had been directed at the Alpine nation over tax issues, saying that privacy in banking remained intact.

In a statement, the council, the executive branch of government, said it would, however, work "to improve cooperation with other countries in the area of tax offences."

The Council added that "it is prepared to enter into dialogue with third countries on the taxation of savings income." To do so, it set up a "group of experts," which includes civil servants, bankers and academics, to advise the government.

London  - The Bank of England (BoE) Thursday applied the twin tools of interest rate cuts and a boost in the money supply to revive the recession-hit economy.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut the key lending rate by 50 basis points to 0.5 per cent and injected an initial 75 billion pounds (105 billion dollars) into the economy through so- called quantitative easing.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the injection of liquidity was "absolutely essential to get the economy moving."

Tata Motors, India's largest passenger automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company, has informed that it has joined hands with public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) for financing its entire range of passenger cars.

The latest tie-up will provide a single window for both cars as well as car loans and will make car buying easier for customers.

The lender offers car loans up to 90 per cent of invoice for tenure ranging up to seven years at a rate of 10.5 per cent to 11 per cent.