1.   Foster helped put together some private and banking financing to get the company running.

2.   It would also allow banking companies to get blanket permission to enter a laundry list of new business lines rather than applying for each new product or activity.

3.   Most said the industry will continue to consolidate and the biggest investment banking firms get bigger.

4.   Banking shares got a boost following a report that the government will inject public money into Japanese banks suffering from huge amounts of bad debt.

5.   Banking stocks were getting attention in the early going as investors bet on continuing consolidation in the industry.

6.   Banking stocks also got attention as investors bet on continuing consolidation in the industry.

7.   Tokyo stocks shot up Thursday as technology and banking issues got a big boost from a rally on Wall Street.