BNP Paribas IP has said that this joint venture will benefit from its sales force in the Latin American region, and will leverage on BNPP IP's international presence in over 30 countries.

Deutsche Bank Securities acted as the sole financial advisor to BancoEstado on this transaction. Claro y Cia acted as legal advisor to BancoEstado. Philippi Yrarrazaval Pulido & Brunner acted as BNP Paribas Asset Management legal advisor.

Gilles Glicenstein, chairman and CEO of BNP Paribas IP, said: "We have together high expectations as the Chilean market is one of the most promising in the Latin American region and in the world, and it is getting more and more sophisticated. With BancoEstado's expertise of the market, and our worldwide experience and client reach, we are well positioned to become the leading player in asset management in Chile."

Pablo Pinera, CEO of BancoEstado, added: "We are convinced that this alliance will synergize the strengths, capabilities and expertise of BancoEstado and BNPP IP to introduce products and services of unparalleled quality and diversity. The joint venture will combine the strength, reliability and coverage of BancoEstado with the international product expertise and global network of BNPP IP."

http://www.datamonitor.com

Republication or redistribution, including by framing or similar means,
is expressly prohibited without prior written consent. Datamonitor shall 
not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions 
taken in reliance thereon

The European Central Bank cut interest rates by 75 basis points, its biggest ever move as inflation plummets and the euro zone economy sinks deeper into recession.

But DuPont's forecast of a fourth-quarter loss, which hit U.S. index futures, overshadowed the interest rate move.

"DuPont says it sees a fourth quarter loss against a street estimate of a profit -- that's pushed the market down as it is a big Dow component. The rate cut was more or less in line," said a trader.

The ECB move takes its main refinancing rate to 2.50 percent, its lowest in nearly 2-1/2 years and marks the third cut in barely two months amidst signs that the financial crisis is biting hard into the real economy.

"It's very welcome, and I think there's much more in the pipeline, and that's good news for equity markets, but meanwhile the grim reminder of poor economic numbers will be with us for many more months," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin.

The European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, confirmed its earlier estimate that the economy of the 15 countries using the euro shrank 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in July-September after a 0.2 percent fall in the previous three months.

Bank of America's Holger Schmieding said: "There is no surprise. Consumption is flat, investment down, government expenditure up and exports not much of a help. Of course, it's just a prelude to a serious recession as two of the months, July and August, were before the real crisis erupted."

The Bank of England cut interest rates to 2 percent taking borrowing costs to their lowest in more than half a century, amid signs the economy is heading for a deep recession.

"Interest rates are ... highlighting the very serious situation that the UK economy is in," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.

French power group EDF was the top loser on the index, falling 4.8 percent after it said the building costs for its EPR new generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville would be 20 percent higher than previously estimated.

Financials reversed earlier gains, although stocks within the sector were mixed.

Banco Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas were down 2.1-5.4 percent.

Credit Suisse surged 4.4 percent after its CEO said that it does not foresee any circumstances in which it would need any state help.

The group also announced it was cutting another 5,300 jobs, as it revealed it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs in October and November.

Energy stocks were also in the red with crude down 2.1 percent. Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Tullow Oil were 1-2 percent lower.

However, BG Group was up 3.25 percent after BP on Wednesday agreed to an asset swap with the UK gas producer.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 1.3 percent down, Germany's DAX was down 0.4 percent and France's CAC 40 was down 0.9 percent.

(Editing by Victoria Bryan) Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE STOCKS (joanne.frearson@reuters.com; +44 207 542 6437, Reuters Messaging:joanne .frearson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

MMMM

Bank of Ireland itself, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley have been named to manage the sale, IFR said.

(Reporting by Natalie Harrison) ($1=.7714 Euro) Keywords: BANKIRELAND/BOND

(natalie.harrison@reuters.com; +44 207 542 2687; Reuters Messaging: natalie.harrison.reuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

MMMM

It was not immediately clear whether or not BNP Paribas would also be charged with insider trading.

The Financial Services Agency will warn the bank to take steps to improve internal operations in an order that will likely be handed down by Friday, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

BNP Paribas in July arranged a 30 billion yen ($316 million) financing deal with Japan's Urban Corp. However, full details of the transaction were not disclosed until a month later, when the Hiroshima-based firm collapsed under $2.4 billion in debt.

An independent committee set up in Tokyo by the bank to investigate the deal said this month BNP Paribas may have violated insider trading rules.

The committee, composed of lawyers and outside executives, said it was "extremely inappropriate" that BNP Paribas pressured Urban not to disclose a critical swap component of the deal.

The bank's Tokyo head, Yusuke Yasuda, apologised for the lack of disclosure at a news conference but said there had been no insider trading.

Under the swap component, BNP Paribas took the 30 billion yen as a deposit and gradually fed money back to Urban, based on its share price. The lower Urban's share price, the less money BNP Paribas was required to pay.

The FSA has already fined Urban about $15,000 for failing to fully disclose the deal and is expected to hand down an additional 10 million yen ($105,000) punishment, which it previously announced.

($1=95.10 Yen)

(Reporting by David Dolan, additional reporting by Emi Emoto; Editing by Rodney Joyce) Keywords: URBAN/BNP (david.dolan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: david.dolan.reuters.com @reuters.net; +81-3-6441-1805)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

MMMM