- U.S. Says It Has ‘Proof’ of Crimes by Cioffi, Tannin
- Banker-Pay Limits May Hurt Most at Citigroup, Bank of America
- BofA Sued by Funds Over Merrill
- FDIC Prepayment Likely for Banks
- SEC Weighs New Rules for Lending of Securities
- UBS chief forecasts return to health in a year
- Paulson’s plan
- JPMorgan’s Winters to Leave; Staley Will Run Investment Bank
- Cassano is back in US
- BNP Paribas To Reimburse Aid With Rights Issue
- Housing Agencies May Get $35 Billion in Treasury Aid
- Banks and service providers prepare for return of hedge funds
- GIC Says Investments Drop 20%, UBS Stake Has Loss
- Stanford beats system
- Stanford will be moved out of Conroe
- Former Broadband CEO given 16-month sentence
- Starbucks debuts Via instant coffee in U.S., Canada
- Amazon’s Kindle DX: Not Yet a Hit on Campus
U.S. Says It Has ‘Proof’ of Crimes by Cioffi, Tannin – Bloomberg
Prosecutors said they have “direct proof” that former Bear Stearns Cos. hedge fund manager Ralph Cioffi used his investment in a fund he controlled to lie to a bank and obtain a $4.2 million line of credit for a condominium development project…..
The government said it seeks to introduce newly developed evidence that Cioffi knew Bear Stearns officials told him he couldn’t encumber his holdings in one of two funds he controlled and did so without their approval. The U.S. seeks to introduce this evidence in the Oct. 13 trial before U.S. District Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn, New York…..
Banker-Pay Limits May Hurt Most at Citigroup, Bank of America – Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc.,Bank of America Corp. and smaller banks struggling to attract talent and regain ground on stronger peers may face a new obstacle resulting from the global push to rein in executive pay.
Group of 20 standards barring bonus guarantees for more than one year and requiring deferred pay for top executives would take recruitment tools away from banks already burdened by diminished share prices and damaged reputations, some recruiters said. The plan adopted at last week’s G-20 summit may benefit Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, which have been quicker to repay government aid……
BofA Sued by Funds Over Merrill – Wall Street Journal
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said Monday that his office could soon seek “billions” from Bank of America Corp., including Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, over the bank’s handling of the purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Mr. Cordray filed an amended lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York on behalf of five pension funds, alleging that the Charlotte, N.C., bank, its directors and four executives concealed widening losses at Merrill before the December shareholder vote to approve the deal.
In addition to Mr. Lewis, the executives named as defendants are Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Joe Price, accounting chief Neil Cotty and John Thain, the former Merrill chairman and CEO….
FDIC Prepayment Likely for Banks – Wall Street Journal
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is expected to propose Tuesday that the bulk of the banking industry prepay three years’ worth of fees to replenish the fund that insures trillions of dollars of customers’ deposits, people familiar with the matter said.
Having banks pay up front for 2010, 2011 and 2012 could bring between $36 billion and $54 billion to the government agency, which insures deposits at more than 8,000 banks, these people said. It couldn’t be learned when the assessments would have to be prepaid….
Paulson’s plan – NY Post
Hedge-fund maestro John Paulson is tossing about a plan to save troubled lender CIT Group through a merger with IndyMac Federal Bank, according to people familiar with the situation.
Paulson, who reached superstar status by shorting toxic mortgage loans in 2007, is part of a group that bought the failed IndyMac from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. earlier this year. He also holds debt in CIT Group…..
JPMorgan’s Winters to Leave; Staley Will Run Investment Bank – Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s William “Bill” Winters, co-chief executive officer of the investment bank, is leaving the company.
Steve Black, who served alongside Winters overseeing the investment bank, will become executive chairman of the unit, the company said today in a statement on Business Wire. Jes Staley, who runs the asset-management unit, has been named CEO of the investment bank, the bank said……
SEC Weighs New Rules for Lending of Securities – Wall Street Journal
Securities regulators are exploring new regulations for the multitrillion-dollar securities-lending market, the first major step regulators have taken in the area in decades.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said she wants to shine a light on the “opaque market.” After many large investors lost millions in last year’s credit crunch, she said, “we need to consider ways to enhance investor-oriented oversight.”….
UBS chief forecasts return to health in a year – Financial Times
UBS has been through a “boxing match” but will be back to health within a year and ready to reverse its bail-out deal with the Swiss government, Oswald Grübel, its chief executive, has told the Financial Times.
Mr Grübel, the German who took the top job at the Swiss bank in the spring, said: “Our brand looks like it’s been through a 15-round boxing match. Operationally and reputationally, there’s not much more you can get wrong.”…..
Cassano is back in US - Reuters via NY Post
Joseph Cassano has come home to face the music.
The former AIG executive closely associated with one of the most sensational collapses in corporate history, recently slipped back into the US.
Under intense investigations by the FBI and other agencies, Cassano had until recently been living in London…..
BNP Paribas To Reimburse Aid With Rights Issue – NY Times
BNP Paribas SA said Tuesday it is launching a EUR4.3 billion rights issue to buy out the French government’s stake, making it the country’s first bank to reimburse state funding issued at the height of the financial crisis.
The move comes at a time of improving financial prospects for European banks and is the latest example of how they are trying to shake free of state aid……
Housing Agencies May Get $35 Billion in Treasury Aid – Bloomberg
State housing agencies in the U.S. that provide mortgages to low-income borrowers would get as much as $35 billion in federal aid under a new U.S. Treasury Department program, people familiar with the matter said.
The program would provide up to $15 billion in fresh funding for as long as three years and would purchase as much as $20 billion in tax-exempt mortgage bonds issued by state- sponsored housing finance agencies through the end of this year, a person familiar with the matter said. The program may be announced as early as Sept. 30, said the person, who didn’t want to be named because the plans haven’t been made public……
Banks and service providers prepare for return of hedge funds – Financial Times
What is fast, trades around the clock and across borders – and in huge size? It is of course the FX market but the description also fits hedge funds, which were the fastest-growing power in the market before the crisis.
Then, banks and other service providers were queuing up to provide services to the sector but in the last year, the funds have pulled back for a variety of reasons.
Now those same banks and service providers are readying for the return of the funds and say the signs are there that the recovery is beginning…..
GIC Says Investments Drop 20%, UBS Stake Has Loss – Bloomberg
Government of Singapore Investment Corp.’s assets fell more than 20 percent in the year to March 31 as the collapse in financial markets drove down the value of its stake in UBS AG.
GIC, manager of more than $100 billion of the city’s foreign reserves, said it continues to lose money on the holding in UBS, though it has made a profit on its investment in Citigroup Inc…..
Stanford beats system - NY Post
Alleged Ponzi swindler R. Allen Stanford is paying a painful price to get switched into the cushy lockup he wanted — two black eyes, a broken nose and a concussion.
The 59-year-old financier got a prompt transfer yesterday from a reputed hell-hole prison in South Texas to a more modern facility in Houston after he was beaten up by another inmate…..
Stanford will be moved out of Conroe – Houston Chronicle
R. Allen Stanford will be moved to a downtown Houston prison so he can be closer to his attorneys as he prepares to go to trial on charges of running a $7 billion fraud.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner’s order Monday that he be transferred came as Stanford returned to the Joe Corley Detention Center in Conroe after being hospitalized following a fight with a fellow inmate…..
Former Broadband CEO given 16-month sentence - Houston Chronicle
Former Enron Broadband CEO Joe Hirko was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his role in hyping the performance of the collapsed company’s business unit through false press releases.
Hirko pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud last October, just weeks before he was set to go to trial for the second time. The single charge had a maximum sentence of 16 months versus the many years he could have faced if a jury had convicted him in trial. “I am profoundly sorry for my actions,” Hirko said in the hearing Monday. “I let a lot of people down.”…
Starbucks debuts Via instant coffee in U.S., Canada – Reuters
Chief Executive Howard Schultz called Starbucks Corp’s Via Ready Brew “perhaps the biggest opportunity” in company history as he prepared for the instant coffee product’s North American roll-out on Tuesday.
With Via, the coffee chain that introduced espresso drinks to the masses, hopes to steal a big slice of the $21 billion global instant coffee market from established players like Nestle SA’s Nescafe and Kraft Foods Inc’s Sanka……
Amazon’s Kindle DX: Not Yet a Hit on Campus – Wall Street Journal
Students are testing out Amazon.com’s Kindle DX e-book reader device as part of a pilot-program taking place at seven campuses nationwide this fall. But already, some students are expressing their discomfort with the gadgets.
“I’m not a huge fan of it yet,” said Aaron Horvath, a 21-year-old senior at Princeton University, who is among 50 students in three different courses at the Ivy League university testing the devices. He saved his harshest criticism for the device for the pages of The Daily Princetonian saying, “I hate to sound like a Luddite, but this technology is a poor excuse of an academic tool.” He said the device doesn’t allow people to flip through pages easily, and adds that it’s cumbersome to text and type notes…..
Tags: AIG, Allen Stanford, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, CIT, Citigroup, John Paulson, JPM, Paulson & Co, SEC, Short selling, UBS
