1.   Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst with Tucker Anthony in Portland, Maine, said he is expecting most large banks to trim spending this year.

2.   Moreover, banks are trimming costs by paring their operations or merging with other banks.

3.   The bank also trimmed costs.

4.   To that end, the bank will trim its purchases in the weekly bill auction and buy more longer-term securities at Government of Canada bond auctions.

5.   With a weak capital base, large international Japanese banks have been trimming their lending to meet capital requirements set by the Bank for International Settlements.

6.   The last time the discount rate was slashed, by three-quarters of a point in mid-April, the bank first trimmed short-term rates.