K.V. Kamath, managing director and CEO, ICICI Bank, will hand over charge to joint managing director and chief financial officer Chanda Kochhar, in what is being seen as a smooth change of guard in the country's largest private sector bank.

The change will be with effect from April 30, 2009.

Kamath will take over as the non-executive chairman of the board from N.Vaghul, who is designated to retire on April 30, next year.

There is likely to be a shuffle in the top brass of ICICI after the retirement of N Vaghul on April 30, 2009. Chanda Kochhar is most likely to be appointed as managing director and chief executive officer. Kochhar, who at present is holding the position of joint managing director and chief financial officer of the bank, will succeed KV Kamath, who will become the non-executive chairman.

State Bank of India and Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) announced a cut in interest rates for the new loans to micro, small and medium enterprises by up to one per cent. Interest rate reduction came after the announcement of a special package by the RBI and Association of Bankers. The new rates would be effective immediately. Small scale industry had been demanding financial package from the government to push demand in the sector which is adversely impacted by the ongoing financial crisis.

Singapore  - The World Bank and Singapore signed an agreement Thursday to set up an urban hub in the city-state to provide and facilitate advice and technical assistance to developing countries on urban management, water and resource management, city financing and urban design.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo signed the agreement, under which the two sides said they would collaborate to meet growing demand from developing countries for technical advice, especially on urban management.

New York  - Bernard Madoff, the high-flying Wall Street investor charged with a 50-billion-dollar fraud, was placed under house arrest on Wednesday.

Madoff, 70, will be required to wear a tracking device and be subject to a curfew, while his wife told the judge she would give up two of her homes if he were to attempt to escape, Bloomberg News reported.

Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq exchange, was arrested last week for running a 50-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Munich - German prosecutors searched the offices Wednesday of troubled mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate, which has emerged as one of the nation's most prominent victims of the US subprime housing crisis.

Munich prosecutors said they searched Hypo Real Estate's premises as well as property linked to the lender's former board members.

The investigations relate to suspicions of market manipulation.