- SEC to review whether BofA broke the law
- Libor Falling Fastest Since January on Credit Revival
- Fannie Mae’s Allison Said to Be Leading Candidate to Run TARP
- More UBS job cuts seen, 240 axed in Asia-Pacific
- Obama Auto Team Said to Eye GM Loan-to-Equity Swap
- GM recalls nearly 1.5 million vehicles
- Chrysler Lenders Want Cash or Other Protection for Debt Swap
- New Chrysler, Fiat board hinted
- Wells Fargo May Need $50 Billion in Capital, KBW’s Cannon Says
- Moody's Lowers Ambac Units' Rtgs Amid Higher Loss Estimates
- Qwest ex-CEO Nacchio ordered to report to prison
- Ebay Skype sale unlikely: report
- Talbots' Q4 loss worse than expected, shares fall
SEC to review whether BofA broke the law
- Financial Times
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing whether Bank of America broke the law by not telling shareholders about Merrill Lynch’s plan to pay out $3.6bn in bonuses before they voted for a government-backed merger of the two banks…..
Libor Falling Fastest Since January on Credit Revival
- Bloomberg
The London interbank offered rate for three-month dollar loans is dropping at the fastest pace since January as bankers gain confidence that the worst of the financial crisis is
over….Libor, the British Bankers’ Association interest rate that determines borrowing costs on about $360 trillion of financial agreements ranging from home mortgages to corporate bonds, fell to 1.12 percent today from 1.32 percent a month ago. The fastest drop since the start of the year, when the rate tumbled to 1.08 percent on Jan. 14 from 1.42 percent nine days earlier, coincides with President Barack Obama’s efforts to restore the economy and the banking system to health…..
Fannie Mae’s Allison Said to Be Leading Candidate to Run TARP
- Bloomberg
Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer Herb Allison is the leading candidate to run the Treasury office overseeing the $700 billion U.S. bank-rescue program, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Allison, who spent three decades on Wall Street, would replace Neel Kashkari, a holdover from the Bush administration, as assistant secretary for the Office of Financial Stability. The unit administers the Troubled Asset Relief Program, created last year to stave off a collapse of the financial system….
More UBS job cuts seen, 240 axed in Asia-Pacific
- Reuters
Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) is cutting 3 percent of its Asia-Pacific staff, in what banking sources said was part of a fresh round of global job cuts at the crisis-hit bank.
A UBS spokesman in Hong Kong said on Tuesday the bank will cut 240 jobs, all in the wealth management business. Banking sources said they included 100 redundancies in Singapore, where UBS is a relatively strong player in private banking…..
Obama Auto Team Said to Eye GM Loan-to-Equity Swap
- Bloomberg
The U.S. government is considering taking an equity stake in a stripped-down General Motors Corp. in a swap for some of the $13.4 billion the carmaker owes the Treasury, people familiar with the matter said.
A government stake would be part of an effort to cut GM’s debt and improve its balance sheet as the carmaker approaches a June 1 deadline to come up with a plan to become viable, the people said. There would be a smaller stake for bondholders, who own $27.5 billion in GM debt, and who had been offered 90 percent of the new entity’s equity by the company…..
GM recalls nearly 1.5 million vehicles
- CNN.com
The possibility of engine fires has prompted General Motors to recall nearly 1.5 million passenger sedans manufactured between 1997 and 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday.
The recall covers certain mid- and full-size passenger sedans under GM's (GM, Fortune 500) Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac brands…..
Chrysler Lenders Want Cash or Other Protection for Debt Swap
- Bloomberg
Chrysler LLC’s lenders, holding $6.9 billion in secured loans, want cash or other protection in exchange for slashing the automaker’s debt and helping it avoid a bankruptcy filing, people familiar with the negotiations said.
The lenders will make a counteroffer in the next few days after the U.S. Treasury has asked Chrysler’s banks to exchange what they are now owed for a new senior, secured loan of about $1 billion, said the people, who declined to be named because the matter is private…..
New Chrysler, Fiat board hinted
- Detroit Free Press
Chrysler LLC and Fiat SpA are considering the creation of a new board of directors and perhaps a new management team led by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, Automotive News reported Monday, citing unidentified sources.
The publication also said a new seven-member board would include Fiat executives and maybe members of President Barack Obama's auto task force…..
Wells Fargo May Need $50 Billion in Capital, KBW’s Cannon Says
- Bloomberg
Wells Fargo & Co., the second- biggest U.S. home lender, may need $50 billion to pay back the federal government and cover loan losses as the economic slump deepens, according to KBW Inc.’s Frederick Cannon.
KBW expects $120 billion of “stress” losses at Wells Fargo, assuming the recession continues through the first quarter of 2010 and unemployment reaches 12 percent, Cannon wrote today in a report. The San Francisco-based bank may need to raise $25 billion on top of the $25 billion it owes the U.S. Treasury for the industry bailout plan, he wrote…..
Moody's Lowers Ambac Units' Rtgs Amid Higher Loss Estimates
- Wall Street Journal
Moody's Investors Service on Monday lowered its credit ratings on bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc.'s (ABK) units, including principal operating subsidiary Assurance Corp., which it placed into junk territory, amid higher loss estimates and its view of weakened risk-adjusted capitalization.
The industry has been reeling from a foray into insuring mortgage-backed securities, which have plummeted along with the housing market. Weak consumer sentiment and a contracting U.S. economy have hurt the insurance sector further……
Qwest ex-CEO Nacchio ordered to report to prison
- Reuters
Former Qwest International Inc Chief Executive and convicted insider trader Joseph Nacchio appears headed for prison on Tuesday after a years-long legal battle marked by a litany of appeals and verdict reversals.
Nacchio, whose 2007 conviction was hailed as a victory over greedy corporate chieftains of the dotcom era, will report to a minimum-security prison in Pennsylvania after a federal appeals court denied his emergency request to remain free while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to review his case…..
Ebay Skype sale unlikely: report
- Reuters
A proposed buyout of eBay Inc's Skype led by private equity, including Warburg Pincus and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and the Web telephone company's co-founders is unlikely to be completed, the Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying on its blog on Monday.
The founders of the service, which eBay bought in 2005 for $2.6 billion, has teamed up with private equity firms KKR, Warburg Pincus, Providence and Elevation Partners, according to the newspaper's Deal Journal blog…..
Talbots' Q4 loss worse than expected, shares fall
- Reuters
Talbots Inc's (TLB.N) deeper-than-expected quarterly loss and staid sales projections sent its shares diving 15 percent after the closing bell on Monday, overshadowing news of a new $150 million loan facility that the women's apparel retailer says will boost liquidity.
The new facility, secured through majority owner Aeon Co Ltd (8267.T) of Japan, will help the company "navigate through these mo….
