Financial Services Industry Archive

Prudential to sell Wachovia share — Prudential Financial is expected to sell to Wells Fargo & Co. its $3.7 billion share of Wachovia, which is being bought by Wells. Meanwhile, Prudential is said to be interested in buying AIG’s life insurance business in Japan. [Source: MoneyCNN.com] Credit Suisse takes big hit — Credit Suisse Group has lost $2.48 billion in two months...

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Now comes word that Timothy Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for U.S. Treasury Secretary, is trying to push Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair out of office. So much for Obama’s “team of rivals” governing philosophy. Apparently, Geithner worries that Bair is not a team player, according to Bloomberg Business News, which broke the story....

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I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not, anymore - Capital One Financial is acquiring backyard rival Chevy Chase Bank for $520 million in cash and stock. Bethesda, Md.-based Chevy Chase is the latest in a parade of regional banking comanies that have been acquired since the banking crisis bloomed earlier this year. Citigroup was reportedly interested in buying Chevy but backed off after its...

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The SEC is slapping the hands of credit ratings agencies whose lax performance is said to have contributed mightily to the financial meltdown. While avoiding more significant regulatory changes for later, the SEC will prohibit ratings agencies from rating products they helped structure, require more detailed reports of their performance and complaints and make it illegal for ratings agency...

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The hedge fund industry is bracing for a massive “end-of-the-year” sale as jittery investors opt to stash their cash in safer places. Hedge fund redemptions are expected to accelerate in December as many clients have already given the 30-day notice many hedgies require before exiting. Some hedge fund managers were praying that brisk late November and “Black Friday”...

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Investors trapped in LandAmerica bankruptcy — Hundreds of real estate investors are scrambling to recover their money from what were to be low risk and brief investments with title insurance firm LandAmerica Financial Group. The Richmond, Va.-based firm declared bankruptcy last week after a merger with a rival failed. [Source: The Wall Street Journal] GAO urges bailout controls —...

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JPMorgan Chase announced Friday that it expects to save more than 20,000 WaMu workers at the bank’s branches and wealth management division from getting a pink slip this Christmas. The retention of WaMu’s branch staff is not just an altruistic move — it points up the geographic synergy between the two financial institutions, and the importance of branches as a sales channel for this...

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GE’s Focus: Fixing Financial Unit — Conglomerate GE is chopping away at its giant GE Capital financing unit. GE will take a charge of up to $1.4 billion to speed up shrinking the financing group through cost cuts, discontinuing some operations and decreasing leverage with reduced borrowing. GE says a tighter credit market and economy are forcing these major changes, which will...

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Universities are seeing their endowments broadsided by the financial meltdown and some are considering suing their fund managers because they can’t withdraw cash or because their funds have tanked so much. According to bond ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service, university endowments will decline 30 percent this year. Among those hardest hit are big Ivy Leagues schools, such as...

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Once again, Donald Trump is going toe-to-toe with his banker. Deutsche Bank, a major backer of Trump’s mammoth new condominium/hotel tower in downtown Chicago, is demanding the real estate mogul pay a $40 million personal guarantee connected to a $640 million construction loan the German bank made in 2005. That loan came due Nov. 7 with an outstanding balance of $334 million, according to...

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