The acting governor of the Bank of Japan, Masaaki Shirakawa, said on Friday that dealing with global market turmoil was his top priority, but warned those expecting a cut in interest rates that he has no preconceptions on where to take monetary policy.

Vasco Data Securities (VDSI) reported today that they had landed the second large contract in as many weeks. The latest contract is with Swedbank, the leading bank in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Swedbank also operates in in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Western Russia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, US, China and Japan.

Who has the deep personal connections and even deeper pockets to come up a strategic alternative to the Microsoft offer? Both Jerry Yang and Masayoshi Son are part of the board of Yahoo Japan, of which Softbank owns a controlling interest and Yahoo! Inc. owns a part. Son also owns a part of Yahoo! Inc. and is the richest man in Japan.

Japan is in advanced discussions to create its first sovereign wealth fund in a move aimed at mobilising one of the world’s biggest pools of foreign exchange reserves.