The Dutch state-owned retail operations of Fortis and ABN Amro will merge and the government intends to participate in the combination in the coming years, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.

UPDATE 2-Bank of Ireland says has received approaches

Citigroup CEO Vikrum Pandit said Friday that he would like to keep the company together and does not wish to spin off its Smith Barney brokerage.

The need by U.S. retailers' to sell in hard times has put them at odds with the lenders backing their credit cards.

Citigroup could see its shares rally by 100 percent or sink to nothing, investor Marc Faber told CNBC Friday.

British annual public borrowing is set to climb toward 120 billion pounds over the next two years, forcing the finance minister to announce plans for deferred tax rises and public spending curbs in his pre-budget report, the Financial Times reports.

Signs of distress in the global economy mounted , with Citigroup shares plunging on fears about its future, oil prices falling and the future of U.S. automakers hanging in the balance.

Australian banks are lining up to raise less costly funds in Europe now that the Australian
government has finalized a long-awaited wholesale funding guarantee, market sources said.

Citigroup, trying to arrest the sharp slide in its stock price, may look for a possible merger partner or take other steps to raise cash, senior officials told CNBC.

Citigroup , JPMorgan Chase and Capital One are among the final bidders for Chevy Chase Bank, a Bethesda, Maryland, lender, sources familiar with the matter said.

Citigroup's stock plunged below $5—a 13-year low—but the banking giant's troubles may be just beginning.

Wall Street's pain is rippling through U.S. small businesses, as bankers who once pulled in million-dollar bonuses lose their jobs and cut back spending on everything from parties to home improvements.

The money-losing finance company GMAC said on Thursday it has filed to become a bank, and its bonds surged as it joined the growing list of lenders making such a move in a bid to secure U.S. Treasury funds.

Citigroup's stock dive Wednesday likely hurt some prominent investors, such as American Funds and AllianceBernstein, that bought more of the stock in the last quarter.

Stung by outsize investment losses, some of the nation’s biggest companies are pushing Congress to roll back rules requiring them to put more money into their pension funds, just two years after President Bush signed a law meant to strengthen the pension system.