Tokyo - Nomura Holdings Inc on Tuesday reported a record net loss of 492.36 billion yen (5.53 billion dollars) for the first nine months of the fiscal year 2008, which ends in March.

It was the largest loss Nomura incurred since 2001, when Japan's top brokerage house began using the US accounting standard.

It was also the first time Nomura reported losses in four quarters in a row, according to the Jiji Press news agency.

New York  - Credit card company American Express said Monday its profits plunged 72 per cent as customers fell behind on loan payments and were also spending less amid the widening recession.

Profits fell to 238 million dollars from 858 million dollars a year earlier.

American Express sought 3.5 billion dollars in federal emergency assistance last year as it tried to cope with the effects of the financial market crisis. It qualified for aid after converting itself into a bank-holding company.

Encouraged by significant increase in net profit for Q3, the Andhra Bank is now eying of business growth of 23 per cent in the eastern region for the current financial year. The bank did total business worth Rs 95,770 crore till December 2008 and now sets a target to increase its business to Rs 100 thousand crore by the end of this financial year.

Ramakrishnan K S, Zonal manager, Andhra Bank said that bank expects business worth Rs 150000 crore by September 2010. The bank has initiated various measures to increase current account and saving accounts (CASA) deposits.

Amsterdam  - Shares in Dutch bank and insurance giant ING Group shot up over 27.7 per cent on Monday as investors reacted positively to the bank's announcement of plans to slash 7,000 jobs in order to cut costs by 1 billion euros (1.287 billion dollars).

Investors were also pleased with new Dutch government support for ING Group.

A so-called Illiquid Assets Back-up Facility would cover the risks of the ING's Alt-A division, which deals with mortgages in the US subprime market. Due to the financial crisis, the mortgages can no longer be traded.

London  - Shares in leading British banks made a come-back Monday after a nine-day losing streak prompted by fears over the extent of losses and undeclared so-called bad debt.

Barclays led the recovery with a 73-per-cent rise in its share price which closed at 88.7 pence on the London Stock Exchange Monday, compared with 51 pence Friday.

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC all rose Monday, after being dragged down last week by the revelation that Edinburgh-based RBS was expecting record losses for for 2008.

Union Bank has revealed that it aims to open 500 new branches over the coming six months. According to sources, the rapid growth of the bank has led to opportunities in career progression within the bank.

The sources further added that the lender has proposals to employ 1600 officers, of which 800 will be through campus recruitment and the bank has short listed 25 institutes, including some of the top management schools to conduct the process.