Federal regulators on Wednesday proposed a plan to allow public companies to begin using international accounting standards for reporting financial results in two years, and may require them to do so starting in 2014.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures, according to a report.

The number of troubled U.S. banks rose 30 percent to 117 in the second quarter, the highest level in five years, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

(Reuters) - The New York attorney general's office is probing the relationship between Fidelity Investments and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. <GS.N> in connection with the sale of auction-rate securities, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the investigation.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is probing the relationship between Fidelity Investments and Goldman Sachs Group in connection with the broker's sales of auction-rate securities, people familiar with the investigation said.

Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, which spent billions of dollars on shares in Merrill Lynch <MER.N>, sees value in banking stocks in the United States and Britain, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, which spent billions of dollars on shares in Merrill Lynch <MER.N>, sees value in banking stocks in the United States and Britain, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

Merrill Lynch executives arrived in Taipei to clarify the company's role involving in the possible money laundering by family members of ex-president Chen Shui-bian, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch executives arrived in Taipei to clarify the company's role involving in the possible money laundering by family members of ex-president Chen Shui-bian, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.

Merrill Lynch <MER.N> is examining its contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists as the bank looks to revise the deal on more favorable terms, the New York Post reported, citing sources close to the situation.

(Reuters) - Merrill Lynch <MER.N> is examining its contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists as the bank looks to revise the deal on more favorable terms, the New York Post reported, citing sources close to the situation.

The dollar dropped against the yen on Monday, pressured by sharp losses in the U.S. equities market as nagging credit worries prompted investors to trim risky trades.

Merrill Lynch & Co Inc <MER.N> struck a deal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to buy back billions of dollars of auction-rate securities, in a settlement little different from one the bank reached a day earlier with several states.

Korea Development Bank said on Friday Lehman was one of its options for acquisitions, reviving expectations that the U.S. investment bank might still bring in a large investor.

The dollar surged on Friday, recovering from the previous day's losses, as gloomy British growth data backed views of a slowing global economy and raised prospects of interest rate cuts outside the United States.