HaloCard was conceived by Nick Lepetsos, the 45-year-old president of First American State Bank, a community bank in Greenwood Village, Colo.

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The First National Bank of Fairfield and Iowa State Bank keep reserves of the Maharishi's dollars on hand to cover raams in circulation.

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Plans for such a bank - the first state-run one of its kind in India - were announced in the annual budget.

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And so over the years she worked her way up -- without a college degree, just a high school degree -- to become one of the first woman bank vice presidents in the state of Hawaii.

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The state-owned Bank of China just opened the first U.S.-branch savings account denominated in Chinese yuan.

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According to ICRA, the gross non performing assets ratios of state-run banks was stable at 2.4% for the first half of the fiscal year, while the same number for the State Bank of India Group rose to 4.3% from 4%.

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The Bank of Italy said this week that state revenues fell by more than 3% in the first five months of 2009.

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In the first tier of sanctions, Chinese nationals and state-owned enterprises would be barred from securing U.S. bank loans or floating bond offerings on the U.S. debt market.

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The resumption of revenue transfers comes days after Barack Obama's first visit as US president to Israel and the West Bank, and follow-up meetings by his Secretary of State John Kerry.

BBC: Israel to resume transfer of PA tax revenue