London - Bank shares tumbled on the London stock exchange Tuesday following the rejection by the US House of Representatives of the massive US bail-out plan.

Karvy Stock Broking Limited has maintained ‘sell’ rating on State Bank of India (SBI) stock as there are full chances of a downward trend in this stock.

According to Karvy, investors can sell the stock between Rs 1375-1380 with a strict stop loss of Rs 1400 to achieve an intraday target that lies between Rs 1300-1310. 
  
Karvy feels that SBI stock would remain under high pressure due to existing market condition. 

New York  - US banking giant Citigroup Inc will buy the bulk of the operations of fourth-largest bank Wachovia Corp for about 2.16 billion dollars, 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 Corporation (FDIC) said in a statement Monday.

Mexico City  - Mexican multi-billionaire Carlos Slim and Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, said Monday in Mexico City that the bank for the poor will begin to operate in Mexico with an initial capital of 45 million dollars.

The foundation led by Slim - ranked by Forbes magazine in March as the world's second-richest man with an estimated wealth of 60 billion dollars behind investor Warren Buffett - is set to provide 5 million dollars of initial capital and 40 million dollars in loans.

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.