Washington - The United States has moved to cut off all Iranian transactions routed through US banks to further tighten sanctions over the Islamic state's nuclear and other illicit activities, the US Treasury Department announced Thursday.

Iranian banks and other institutions could previously send transactions through US banks as long as they were initiated by a non-Iranian or American bank outside the US and ended in a non- Iranian or American bank outside the US.

Inside sources reveal that soon after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on 15th September, Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had approached Citigroup Inc. to discuss a possible merger of the two firms.  

However, the brief call made by Lloyd Blankfein (CEO - Goldman) to his Cititcorp counterpart - Vikram Pandit did not result in any serious discussion, with Pandit immediately rejecting the proposal.

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The critical situation of the financial market has started taking its toll on a lot of companies. The financial services company Bajaj Finserv has shown losses during the period July to September.

The Managing director of the company confirmed the slowdown and pressure on margin in his statement: "Yes, we are seeing a slowdown in the sector. Industry growth has slowed down".

Indiabulls Financial Services has registered a consolidated net profit of Rs135.7 crore for the second quarter ended September, a 21.4% growth over the corresponding period year ago.