Amsterdam  - The drastic drop in share value of Belgian-Dutch bank and insurer giant Fortis on Monday is a "heavy blow," Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said on Dutch television Monday.

Despite the takeover of 49 per cent of Fortis by the Benelux countries of The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, the bank's share value dropped by 23.6 per cent.

Bos said he was hoping investors will regain confidence once more details are known about the US rescue plan of the banking industry.

In 2006, when the nation was at the height of its housing boom, Wachovia went on to acquire Golden West Financial Corp. - mortgage lender for $25-billion, and also inherited its deteriorating speciality $122-billion portfolio of Pick-a-Payment loans, which allows borrowers to skip payments and in large part, the possible cause of Wachovia's current problems.
 
But, Wachovia too like other banks stands to benefit from the government’s proposed $700 billion rescue plan.
 
Earlier this summer, Wachovia announced a slash in dividends and plans to cut 11,350 jobs, mostly in its mortgage business, after reporting a $9.11 billion loss for its second quarter.
 

Essen, Germany - Sal. Oppenheim, a German bank, said Monday it would acquire a key stake in German retailing and travel group Arcandor, which has struggled for weeks with a credit crunch.

Essen-based Arcandor runs Germany's chain of Karstadt department stores and the Quelle mail-order business and has a controlling stake in the travel group Thomas Cook.

Cologne-based Oppenheim said it would ultimately acquire as much as 29.5 per cent of Arcandor.

New York - US banking giant Citigroup Inc will buy the bulk of the operations of fourth-largest bank Wachovia Corp, the latest consolidation move under government watch in the ongoing credit crisis.

Citigroup will buy the banking business of Wachovia and get government help in absorbing some of the losses related to the subprime-mortgage market, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) said in a statement.

But the FDIC insisted the takeover should not be viewed as a bail- out, and assured Wachovia customers that operations would continue to run smoothly in the transition.

Citigroup will take on more than 40 billion dollars in losses.

Reykjavik - The government of Iceland Monday bought a majority stake in Glitnir bank, the government and bank said. 

Amsterdam - Dutch insurance company Aegon annou