The Bank of England disclosed on Tuesday that it provided almost 62 billion pounds ($102.9 billion) in emergency loans to Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS at the height of the credit crisis last year.

Lloyds Banking Group got strong demand for a 9 billion pound ($14.9 billion) bond exchange, an indication of possible appetite for the UK bank's record share issue due to price on Tuesday.

Some former bankers are planning to bid for failing banks in the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp auction process,  the Wall Street Journal reports.

A Royal Bank of Scotland consortium will make a $1.4 billion bid for Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, taking aim at a rival Canadian proposal, the Australian Financial Review said on Thursday.

Bailed-out British lender Lloyds Banking Group is to cut a further 5,000 jobs by the end of 2010 as it continues to overhaul its operations and integrate HBOS.

Th e Dow rallied to a new high for 2009  after the Group of 20 pledged to keep stimulus in place until recovery was assured.

Stocks rallied Monday, coming off their best weekly performance in a month, after the Group of 20 pledged to keep stimulus in place until recovery was assured.

Wall Street opens the new trading week coming off its best weekly performance in a month, with U.S. stock index futures pointing to a modestly positive opening Monday.

Stocks bounced around Friday as investors juggled a disappointing jobs report and some analyst upgrades. Still, all three major indexes were on track to post gains for the week.

Stocks bounced around Friday as investors juggled a disappointing jobs report and some analyst upgrades.

There's little doubt about what investors are focused on this morning: the October employment report, set for release at 8:30 am New York time.

Royal Bank of Scotland more than halved its operating losses to 1.5 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in the third quarter as impairments fell, but less favorable trading battered investment banking profits.

Britain's service sector showed its strongest activity since the start of the credit crunch in October, helped by growth in new orders to a two-year high, a purchasing managers survey showed on Wednesday.

Britain's two largest retail lenders have agreed to a massive shake-up of the UK banking sector that will see both sell hundreds of branches and key businesses to appease EU competition concerns over state aid.

The U.S. dollar rose to a one-month high against a basket of currencies Tuesday as concerns about the global banking sector and weaker equity markets boosted the greenback's safe-haven appeal.