New York - The ailing US bank Wachovia is set to be divided between banking rivals Citigroup and Wells Fargo, according to US media reports on the ongoing takeover battle over the United States' fourth-largest bank on Wednesday.

Wells Fargo would receive the bulk of Wachovia's branches and deposits, while a smaller share would go to Citigroup, which is currently looking for possible partners outside the banking sector, the Wall Street Journal reported.

With the takeover of Wachovia, both rivals hope to become top players in the US private banking business.

Riga- The economic outlook is grim for central and eastern Europe (CEE) in general and the Baltic states in particular, according to a report released Wednesday by Scandinavian bank SEB.

London - The Bank of England Wednesday cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 4.5 per cent, it was announced Wednesday.

London - The Bank of England Wednesday cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 4.5 per cent, it was announced Wednesday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament that the decision to reduce the key interest rate had been taken as part of a worldwide action to combat economic turmoil.

The announcement came a day ahead of the end of the meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Thursday.

Interest rates have remained unchanged at 5 per cent for the past five months, as the Bank of England gave priority to the fight against inflation.

Singapore  - Singapore's central bank has signed an agreement with Dubai's financial regulator to cooperate in supervising banking, insurance and capital markets, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in a statement Wednesday.

"It facilitates the exchange of information for supervisory purposes between the two authorities," the MAS said, of the agreement with the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

"Such cooperation helps to strengthen the supervision of cross-border operations of financial institutions under their purview," the statement added.

The MAS signed a similar agreement with Qatar's financial regulator last week.

London  - The British government pledged Wednesday to compensate some 300,000 savers who have placed their money with an Icelandic internet bank following the country's banking nationalization programme.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Wednesday that the government would help savers with deposits in the bank Icesave, whose parent company Landsbanki was nationalized by the Reykjavik government.

"I am very aware of the fact that Iceland has, sadly, chosen to default on its obligations here. We are pursuing Iceland and we will pursue it vigorously to make sure that we get the money due to us back," Darling told the BBC.