Brussels  - The European Union on Wednesday launched a probe into the five-billion-euro German state aid package granted to troubled bank WestLB, but said that the probe did not necessarily indicate any suspicion of wrongdoing, officials said in a statement.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, has opened "an in- depth investigation into state support measures in favour of the German bank WestLB. This is a first step towards finding a viable long-term solution, in close contact with the German authorities," a statement released in Brussels said.

Brussels  - The European Union on Wednesday approved in record time Britain's nationalization of troubled financier Bradford & Bingley, the country's eighth-biggest mortgage lender, saying that it was in line with EU rules.

On Monday the British government decided to take the lender into public ownership and sell off its savings and deposits business to Spanish banking giant Santander in a deal which the buyer valued at 612 million pounds (1.1 billion dollars).

The move was made in consultation with experts from the EU's executive, the European Commission, which oversees the bloc's rules on competition and state aid.

Brussels  - The European Union's executive body is to demand that banks keep more of their riskiest securities on their own books and submit to international supervision on Wednesday as the global financial storm showed no signs of abating.

In a long-awaited move, EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is set to demand that banks which sell high-risk debts, such as mortgages, as assets should keep at least 5 per cent of those assets on their own books, officials said.

He is also expected to call on banks to set aside a proportion of their capital as a safety net against the collapse of other banks with which they have financial ties.

London - Bank shares on the London stock market showed a slight recovery Wednesday as markets anticipated the eventual passage of the US rescue plan.

Manila - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Wednesday it extended a 250-million-dollar loan to help strengthen the Philippine government's fiscal management and reform programmes.

The Manila-based ADB said the loan will help the Philippine government in dealing with the adverse impact of the recent developments in the global economy.

It will also boost the government's efforts to implement measures to strengthen the investment climate with focus on reducing red tape, and support for infrastructure policy and rural development.

The shares of ICICI witnessed a decline 12.11 per cent and closed at Rs. 493 on the fear of its large exposure in the US market. However, the largest private bank of India, said that its UK subsidiary has almost zero exposure in the U.S. sub-prime credit. .The Sensex declined by 10% in last week and shares of ICICI also declined by about 2 percent in the same period.

The lack of clarity over the losses and exposure of bank also contributes in the falling of share prices.