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Kuwait's Investment Dar , which owns half of British carmaker Aston Martin, is applying for support under a government facility set up for troubled companies as part of a debt restructuring.

Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne will look at spinning off its car business from the rest of the industrial group only when he has a firmer grip on U.S. maker Chrysler and can put the two together.

UBS is considering possibly returning to its commodities business this year, some of which it sold during the financial crisis, a Swiss newspaper said on Saturday, citing the co-head of UBS's investment bank.

Safeway Inc forecast 2010 profit that could fall short of Wall Street's view as the supermarket operator tries to jump-start its business after lowering prices to better compete with major rivals.

Britain's Prudential will buy AIG's Asian arm for $35.5 billion in the insurance sector's biggest deal ever, helping the bailed-out U.S. group repay a big chunk of its taxpayer debt.

Britain's Prudential said it would buy AIG's Asian life insurance arm for $35.5 billion, making it the undisputed foreign leader in one of the world's fastest-growing financial services markets.

Britain's Prudential Plc plans to do a rights offering of about $20 billion to finance a $35.5 billion purchase of American International Group's Asian life insurance unit, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.

Switzerland will no longer accept untaxed money into its banks as it tries to ease pressure on its $2 trillion offshore banking industry from key trading partners seeking to boost tax revenues, it said on Thursday.

Twenty-four European banks may need to issue about 240 billion euros ($327 billion) annually for the next three years to fund existing and new businesses.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has created a Major Economic Crimes Bureau as he and other high-profile investigators redouble their efforts to fight financial fraud.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc sued seven of its former private wealth management division executives for abruptly leaving the company to join rival Credit Suisse early this month, court documents show.

Commodities stocks continue to be the best performing in Thursday's U.S. stock market while financials, especially European banks, still lag.

Citigroup Inc is at no disadvantage when it comes to paying employees, the bank's chief financial officer said on Thursday.

Credit Suisse boss Brady Dougan said the Swiss bank was winning client money and transactions faster than at any point since the financial crisis began, putting a positive sheen on weak quarterly earnings.

Credit Suisse missed forecast by posting its lowest quarterly profit in 2009 as market conditions toughened, but it continued to attract client flows while rival Swiss bank UBS struggled.

UBS clients withdrew money at twice the expected rate in the fourth quarter, eclipsing the bank's first net profit since Oswald Gruebel took the helm a year ago and raising concern he will struggle to steady the ship.

Swiss bank UBS posted its first quarterly net profit since Oswald Gruebel took the helm a year ago but clients withdrew far more money than forecast, signaling he may need more time to steady the ship.

A Credit Suisse analyst downgraded Verizon on Thursday, saying he no longer believes rival AT&T Inc. will lose its exclusive deal to offer Apple's iPhone before 2011.

Shares of Verizon were hit on Thursday as analyst downgraded the firm on fears that Apple's venerable iPhone would not make it on its network this year.

World stocks rose for a third day running on Wednesday as better-than-expected U.S. company earnings and firm data raised expectations that the economy would keep strong momentum into the first quarter.

Oil bounced back above $77 on Wednesday, reaching its highest level in almost two weeks, as recovery optimism drove Asian stock markets higher, led by China.

Apple shares were up on Tuesday, a day after the electronics maker reported its latest quarterly results.

U.S. stocks continued to fall in early trading on Friday, a day after President Barack Obama's bank restriction proposal, even as three industry titans beat earnings estimates.

Morgan Stanley has launched a new global initiative to raise capital for hedge fund clients in return for a fee, a company spokesman said.

Longtime rivals Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc find themselves on different ends of the pay debate as the surviving Wall Street titans prepare to disclose their fourth-quarter results.

Swiss banking heavyweight Credit Suisse says it will reduce its global bonus pool by 5 percent to pay for a new British tax on bonuses, but will cut deeper into the bonuses for its top managers in Britain.

Credit Suisse is spreading the pain of a UK tax on bonuses across bankers globally and Goldman Sachs has delayed announcing payouts to staff as a row over remuneration heated up on Tuesday.

Credit Suisse will increase the headcount in its prime brokerage team in Asia by 15 percent to 20 percent in 2010 as it aims to win business from the increasing number of global hedge funds eager to set up base in the region, a senior official at the Swiss bank said.

Alcoa's stock plummeted on Tuesday as Wall Street digested the aluminum producer's worse-than-expected quarterly results amid nagging concerns over whether the metal's price rally can keep going.