LONDON (ShareCast) - Lehman Brothers was still trying to find a buyer for some of its businesses last night - in spite of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, reports the Telegraph.

Members of the bank's senior management team - led by chairman Dick Fuld - were in advanced discussions to sell the bank's investment management arm while trying to sell its core broker-dealer business in an attempt to safeguard jobs and ensure that not all of Lehman's 158-year legacy would end in liquidation.

Lloyds TSB and Standard Chartered of the UK are among the banks listed as top-30 unsecured creditors of Lehman Brothers. Lloyds is owed $75.4m (£42.1m) by Lehman in the form of a letter of credit. Standard Chartered is owed a $41m bank loan and $36.1m under a letter of credit. The single biggest creditor is Japan's Aozora Bank, which is owed $463m, reports the Independent.

AIG, the troubled insurer that sits at the heart of the financial system, on Monday had its key credit ratings cut, potentially triggering billions of dollars of collateral payments on its many derivatives trades. The ratings cuts come after US authorities moved to fight this latest fire in the crisis on Wall Street, throwing a $20bn lifeline to AIG while convening a fresh set of emergency talks at the Federal Reserve in New York to find potential sources of funds for the insurer,the FT reports.

Last night the Federal Reserve asked JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs to organise loans of up to $75 billion for AIG, while New York State officials struck a deal allowing the insurer to borrow $20bn of capital from its own subsidiaries, the Times adds.

China became the first country to cut its interest rates as markets across the world reacted to the crisis on Wall Street.Ahead of the Shanghai stock exchange's reopening today, the Chinese central bank reduced its main borrowing rate for the first time in six years. The market was closed yesterday because of the mid-autumn festival, reports the Telegraph.

The FT adds that banks across Asia shares plunged as investors woke up to the reality of Lehman Brothers’ collapse. Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea lost between 5 and 7% as they opened for business for the first time this week following a holiday long weekend.

Ten of the world's biggest banks have joined forces to create a $70bn (£39bn) "liquidity pool" to provide emergency funding in the wake of Lehman Brothers' collapse. The 10 banks, including Barclays, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, are committing $7bn each in a move intended to prevent a panic on stock markets about their funding obligations. The banks will be able to tap the pool for a maximum of one third of the total. The size of the loan programme might increase as "other banks are permitted to join" reports the Telegraph.

The future of Britain's nuclear industry could be settled this week with the boards of British Energy and EDF, its French suitor, scheduled to meet to consider a sweetened £12 billion-plus bid for the UK generator. British Energy's board, led by Sir Adrian Montague, will hold the first meeting today to discuss a new, provisional offer from EDF, which had an earlier approach rejected in July, writes the Times.

Pensioners have been hit hardest by the surge in the cost of food, fuel and mortgage bills, official figures show.Those living on state pension benefits saw their living and housing expenses spiral by 5.1% in the year to April, a much bigger jump than any other type of household, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. The sharp increase in prices for hard-pressed pensioners was far higher than the Bank of England's target measure of inflation, which was 3 per cent in April, reports the Times.

Engineering group GKN is in line for a second government "sweetener" tied to the £136m takeover of part of the Airbus complex at Filton, near Bristol. The Government has already promised a £60m repayable investment towards the £125m GKN intends to invest in developing aircraft wing technology at the plant and yesterday John Hutton, the Business Secretary, announced the provision of an extra £50m for research and development to bolster Britain's position as a leading wing supplier, writes the Telegraph.

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