- GMAC Said to Hire Citigroup, Goldman Sachs for TARP Repayment
- Obama to Appear on Fox News in Final Health-Care Push
- SEC Didn’t Act on Lehman’s ‘Problematic’ Liquidity, Report Says
- AIG Draws $2.2 Billion More From Treasury to Bolster Units
- Bank of America Is Sued by ABP Over Merrill Lynch Loss Claims
- Madoff relatives try to fend off lawsuits
- US mortgage demand tepid even as loan rates sink
- Stiglitz Says Fed Stimulus Withdrawal May Hurt U.S.
GMAC Said to Hire Citigroup, Goldman Sachs for TARP Repayment – Bloomberg
GMAC Inc. hired Citigroup Inc., another bank controlled by the U.S. government, to explore how to repay bailout funds, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will also help the auto lender examine repayment strategies and both banks will assist GMAC in reviewing options for its money-losing mortgage unit, said the person, who declined to be identified because talks are private…..
Obama to Appear on Fox News in Final Health-Care Push – Bloomberg
President Barack Obama will be interviewed tomorrow on the Fox News Channel, his second appearance on the cable network since administration officials last year singled out Fox for being critical of his policies.
Obama is in a final drive for congressional passage of health-care legislation and has been undertaking a public campaign to make his case. He was interviewed yesterday by ABC News after a health-care speech in Ohio……
SEC Didn’t Act on Lehman’s ‘Problematic’ Liquidity, Report Says – Bloomberg
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission didn’t take action after determining in June 2008 that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was exaggerating the liquid assets on its books, the bankruptcy examiner’s report shows.
Lehman counted a $2 billion deposit at Citigroup Inc. among cash-like assets available in an emergency, even though withdrawing the money could have impaired Lehman’s trading, according to last week’s report by Anton Valukas. SEC employees viewed the asset’s designation as “problematic,” yet didn’t intervene, his report said…..
AIG Draws $2.2 Billion More From Treasury to Bolster Units – Bloomberg
American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the U.S., drew $2.2 billion more from a Treasury Department facility to bolster property-casualty units that will be the core of a scaled-back company.
AIG used the cash to redeem securities held by insurance subsidiaries, improving liquidity and a measure of capital adequacy watched by rating firms and regulators, said Mark Herr, a spokesman for the New York-based firm. The company owes more than $70 billion on Federal Reserve and Treasury facilities……
Bank of America Is Sued by ABP Over Merrill Lynch Loss Claims – Bloomberg
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, Europe’s second-biggest pension plan, sued Bank of America Corp. over claims the bank failed to disclose billions of dollars in losses at Merrill Lynch & Co. before shareholders voted on a takeover of the lender in 2008.
APG Algemene Pensioen Groep NV, which manages ABP’s assets, is seeking damages of as much as $91 million in the lawsuit, Thijs Steger, a spokesman for Heerlen, Netherlands-based APG said today. APG filed the lawsuit on behalf of ABP yesterday in U.S. federal court in New York, according to court documents…..
Madoff relatives try to fend off lawsuits – Financial Times
Relatives of Bernard Madoff have asked for a lawsuit filed by the trustee charged with recouping funds lost through his Ponzi scheme to be dismissed, calling the allegations “senastionalist” and arguing that they too are victims.
The trustee, Irving Picard, is seeking $198m from Mr Madoff’s brother, Peter, his sons Mark and Andrew and his niece Shana. They are accused of negligence and “unjust enrichment”…..
US mortgage demand tepid even as loan rates sink – Reuters
Applications for U.S. home loans slid last week despite the lowest mortgage rates in more than three months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday, suggesting a long haul before housing recovers.
Punishing winter weather has likely chipped away at demand, but high unemployment and underemployment are stifling the housing market even with federal tax incentives still in play…..
Stiglitz Says Fed Stimulus Withdrawal May Hurt U.S. – Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve’s decision to let its mortgage-debt purchase programs end this month risks driving up home-loan rates and worsening the housing crisis, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said.
“The withdrawal of the support risks increasing the interest rate, increasing the number of foreclosures and exacerbating the strain, the stress, that American families are already facing,” Stiglitz said in an interview in Tokyo. He said officials “misjudged things,” and predicted foreclosures and bank failures this year will exceed the 2009 and 2008 totals…..
Tags: AIG, Bank of America, Barack Obama, Bernie Madoff, Citigroup, GMAC, Goldman Sachs, lawsuits, Merrill Lynch, Obamacare, Politics, TARP
