financial institutions – News Stories About financial institutions - Page 3

OPINION

Jul 19, 2008 3:10 PM CDT

Public Silence Greets Wall St. Blunders

Small savers are suffering, but giving financiers a free ride

(Newser) - America's financiers have driven the country into crisis with stunning recklessness, James Grant writes in the Wall Street Journal, but public anger seems strangely dormant. Populist politicians railed against Wall Street during past financial crises, Grant notes, but today's politicians appear largely uninterested in taking aim at the easy target.

$19B Buyout of Clear Channel Nearly Dead

Mar 25, 2008 7:30 PM CDT

$19B Buyout of Clear Channel Nearly Dead

Credit woes have sale of radio giant to private firms crumbling

(Newser) - A $19 billion bid to privatize Clear Channel appears likely to fall through as buyers and financiers bicker—with credit-crunch-induced liquidity woes a major stumbling block, the Wall Street Journal reports. A credit agreement between private equity firms and the banks funding the move has become shaky. “No one...

Subprime Lender CEOs Defend Exec Pay

Mar 7, 2008 3:50 PM CST

Subprime Lender CEOs Defend Exec Pay

Merrill, Citi and Countrywide honchos cashed in as companies foundered

(Newser) - Banking executives who took home huge paychecks even as the subprime mortgage crisis battered their companies appeared before Congress today to defend their actions. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee grilled them about their enormous pay packages as Republicans apologized to them and questioned the premise of the hearing, the...

Credit Suisse Cuts Profits $1B on Trader Errors

Feb 19, 2008 6:58 AM CST

Credit Suisse Cuts Profits $1B on Trader Errors

Trader 'error' prompts bank to take $2.85B writedown; shares plummet

(Newser) - Credit Suisse share prices plummeted 10% today after the bank announced that some traders had overvalued asset-backed securities, prompting the bank to take a $2.85 billion writedown and drop first-quarter profit projections by $1 billion, Bloomberg reports. Switzerland’s second-largest bank suspended the traders and said it would review...

System Vulnerable to 'Genius' Rogue Traders

Jan 30, 2008 6:55 PM CST

System Vulnerable to 'Genius' Rogue Traders

Criminal financial wizards can run amok, experts warn

(Newser) - Banks hoping to weed out potential rogue traders need to realize that they can strike anywhere, any time—and that their best traders could be the likeliest suspects, Reuters warns. "All of the things that make a great trader make a great fraudster, too," noted a consultant. Experts...

FBI Targets 14 Firms in Subprime Fraud Probe

Jan 30, 2008 6:26 AM CST

FBI Targets 14 Firms in Subprime Fraud Probe

Suspected cases of mortgage fraud up in two years

(Newser) - The FBI is investigating 14 companies linked to the subprime mortgage crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bureau is pursuing allegations including accounting fraud and insider trading, said a bureau spokesman. An investigation into the complex secondary mortgage market could implicate major firms that have lost billions of investor...

Americans Split on Borrower Bailout

Dec 11, 2007 12:54 PM CST

Americans Split on Borrower Bailout

Lenders get no sympathy: 72% in poll oppose help

(Newser) - About half of Americans say borrowers snared in the subprime mortgage mess brought the trouble onto themselves, but they nevertheless deserve "special treatment," CNNMoney reports. In a poll of 1,002 adults, 51% also said they felt sorry for borrowers, with 46% blaming financial institutions' lending policies for...