- Big Banks Mask Risk Levels
- Wall Street Bonus Tax Should Be Considered, Liu Says
- Los Angeles Faces Threat of Insolvency
- Hedge Funds Rose 2.7% in March, Strongest Month Since September
- Citi’s ex-grandees strain to keep cool
- Citigroup executives apologize for not averting financial crisis
- Judge Faults Prosecutors in ‘Squawk Box’ Case
- Tiger Woods Shoots His Best Masters First Round; Couples Leads
Big Banks Mask Risk Levels – WSJ
Major banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
A group of 18 banks—which includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.—understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42% at the end of each of the past five quarterly periods, the data show. The banks, which publicly release debt data each quarter, then boosted the debt levels in the middle of successive quarters….
Wall Street Bonus Tax Should Be Considered, Liu Says – Bloomberg
New York City and state officials should consider higher taxes on Wall Street bonuses in the face of deficits and shrinking revenue, Comptroller John Liu said.
Governor David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were wrong to rule out tax increases on bonuses to employees of banks and financial companies that received federal bailout funds, Liu said at a Manhattan breakfast sponsored by Crain’s New York Business…..
Los Angeles Faces Threat of Insolvency – WSJ
A bitter political dispute between this city’s elected leaders and its powerful municipal utility threatens to push the city into insolvency as early as next month.
Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel warned this week that the city’s general fund could run out of money and fall $10 million into the red by May 5 unless the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power transfers a planned $73.5 million payment it has so far said it would withhold. Without the payment, the city would need to dip into its reserve fund, leaving that contingency dangerously low in the event of other emergencies…..
Hedge Funds Rose 2.7% in March, Strongest Month Since September – Bloomberg
Hedge funds rose 2.7 percent in March, the biggest monthly gain since September as stock markets climbed, Hedge Fund Research Inc. said.
The funds have risen 2.6 percent this year, the Chicago- based researcher said today on its Web site…..
Citi’s ex-grandees strain to keep cool – FT
….In response to protestations by Mr Prince and Mr Rubin that they could not have monitored the company’s catastrophic expansion into complex mortgage securities, Mr Angelides, a former California state treasurer, fulminated: “The two of you, in charge of this organisation, did not seem to have a grip on what was happening.”
Then to Mr Rubin, who had explained he never had executive responsibilities at Citi despite commanding a $15m yearly pay package for most of his tenure, he said: “I don’t know that you can have it two ways: you were either pulling the levers or asleep at the switch.”….
Citigroup executives apologize for not averting financial crisis – Washington Post
….”Let me start by saying I’m sorry,” Prince told members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. “I’m sorry the financial crisis has had such a devastating impact on our country. I’m sorry for the millions of people, average Americans, who have lost their homes. And I’m sorry that our management team, starting with me, like so many others, could not see the unprecedented market collapse that lay before us.”
Rubin also expressed remorse that executives failed to recognize the collision course many financial companies were on in recent years. But he stopped short of accepting personal liability for the failures that led to Citigroup’s demise, despite pointed questioning about his role…..
Judge Faults Prosecutors in ‘Squawk Box’ Case – WSJ
U.S. prosecutors were chided by a federal judge on Thursday for withholding information from six former Wall Street brokers and traders who were convicted last year in a scheme to misuse brokerage-firm “squawk” boxes.
Defense lawyers have asked the judge to order a new criminal trial or dismiss the grand-jury indictment, arguing that the withheld information would have helped their clients’ case…..
Tiger Woods Shoots His Best Masters First Round; Couples Leads – Bloomberg
Tiger Woods returned to competitive golf with two eagles and his best first-round score in 16 appearances at the Masters Tournament, where he’s two strokes behind 50-year-old Fred Couples.
Woods, away from the sport for almost five months following his admission of marital infidelity, received a warm reception from the crowd at Augusta National Golf Club and shot a 4-under- par 68 that included three birdies, three bogeys and eagles on the par-5 eighth and 15th holes. He missed a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole……
Tags: Accounting games, Bank of America, Bob Rubin, Bonuses, Chuck Prince, Citigroup, Compensation, Goldman Sachs, Golf, Hedge funds, JP Morgan, Los Angeles, Morgan Stanley, Municipal debt, Tiger Woods, Windowdressing
