Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word bank. 30 news.

MERRILL Lynch is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that could lead to the sale of another big stake in the US bank, British newspaper The Observer reported, citing sources in London and New York.

Pressure on the Bank of England to cut interest rates again next week rose today when further evidence arrived of a decline in the economy

Shares in Alliance & Leicester bank leapt almost 9% after reports that the mortgage lender had held talks with Spain's Banco Santander, the owner of Abbey.

China Investment Corporation (CIC), which has a 10 per cent stake in private equity group Blackstone and invested $5 billion into Morgan Stanley, has pumped $20 billion ($£10 billion) into the China Development Bank to transform it into a commercial lender.

Zimbabwe's central bank chief has extended a deadline to exchange bills of Z$200 000 just hours before they were to cease being legal tender.

Figures from the Central Bank show that lending growth slipped again in November, with the adjusted annual rate of private sector credit growth dropping to 17.1% from 18.5% in October.

Merrill Lynch & Co is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that could lead to the sale of another big stake in the U.S. bank, a British newspaper reported.

Want to save money or boost your earnings in the coming year? TODAY Financial editor Jean Chatzky shares tips on how to get your finances into shape for 2008.

China's sovereign wealth fund injected $20 billion into policy lender China Development Bank, the latest example of how the country is using its surplus of cash to beef up the balance sheets of local banks.

Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that could lead to the sale of another big stake in the U.S. bank, British newspaper The Observer reported, citing sources in London and New York.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that could lead to the sale of another big stake in the U.S. bank, British newspaper The Observer reported, citing sources in London and New York.

Shares of London Scottish Bank (LSB) plunged almost 20 per cent in early morning trading after the small finance house and debt collector issued a profit and dividend warning. By mid-morning, the shares were down 17.86 per cent at 62.98p

Beijing said a unit of its new $200bn sovereign wealth fund would inject $20bn into China Development Bank in a move intended to smooth the policy lender's transformation into a commercially-oriented institution

Beijing said a unit of its new $200bn sovereign wealth fund would inject $20bn into China Development Bank in a move intended to smooth the policy lender's transformation into a commercially-oriented institution

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday announced a $20 billion capital injection into China Development Bank, one of the country's three policy lenders, as part of a long-planned transformation of the state-owned company into a commercial bank.

London Scottish Bank is to take a charge of up to ?22m sterling to cover losses at its unsecured consumer credit business.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Europe stocks weakened out of the gate on Monday, a half-day of trade ahead of the New Year's holiday. Air France-KLM shares rose 1% in early trading Monday, following Friday's news that it's the preferred bidder to buy Alitalia . Cairn Energy , the Scottish oil explorer that surged last week on the back of deal speculation, strong oil prices and its re-entry into the FTSE 100, slipped 1.6%. London Scottish Bank tumbled over 16% after taking a provision and warning it won't be able to pay its final dividend. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% to 6,462.70 in London and the CAC 40 dipped 0.2% to 5,616.79 in Paris. German and Swiss markets were shut.

The Bank of Japan is considering slashing the nation's economic growth forecast for the fiscal year to March to as low as 1.3 percent from its current 1.8 percent, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Sunday.