Financial Services Industry Archive

Magnus Bocker, president of Nasdaq OMX Group, was touting the business model of exchanges at the Global Financial Forum organized late last month at J.P. Morgan Chase. While exchanges could thrive in the current financial climate, they aren’t immune from its woes or increasing competition in the industry. “The business of exchanges is a fantastic business model,” he said at...

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Public listings, corporate restructurings and subsidiary spin-offs are the bread and butter of the investment banking industry. In the aftermath of the credit crisis, the banks are now focusing these talents — usually reserved exclusively for cash-flush conglomerates — on themselves. Tuesday, Nasdaq president Magnus Bocker announced that among the pending initial public offerings...

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While the worst seems to be over for the big banks that got stress-tested in the first quarter, bigger problems may be brewing for those that flew under the radar of fiscal policymakers. Although stress tests for the U.S.’s largest banks were initially criticized for causing more harm than good, they seem to have worked in the favor of banks, shareholders and the stock market as a whole....

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Share buybacks are back in fashion this season. With economic conditions stabilizing, and equity valuations still much cheaper than they were previously, companies are turning to their cash balances and the corporate bond market to buy back their beaten-down shares. Monday, Microsoft said that it is raising $3.75 billion by selling corporate bonds in order to buy back its own stock. The news...

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Guess who is propping up the bad balance sheets of western banks? Here’s a hint: it’s the same people who are providing funding for the unstable one that is the U.S. economy. A little while ago here at BNET I pointed out that a number of beleaguered U.S. and European financial institutions have been selling their stakes in mostly profitable Chinese banks in order to fill holes in their own...

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American International Group CEO Edward Liddy’s testimony on Wednesday before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight will focus on the insurer’s attempt to set up SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) to offload some of its assets and pay back the federal government, BNET Financial has learned. Liddy will tell Congress that he is resisting pressure to divest the once-trillion-dollar...

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While hedge fund manager Bill Ackman intensifies his proxy fight against Target to change the makeup of the retailer’s board, the head of Pershing Square Capital Management has already lost an inning against banks’ bondholders. According to Reuters blogger Felix Salmon, Ackman has backed himself into a corner with Target. Salmon wrote this morning that Ackman, when setting up his...

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When the going gets tough, gold shines brighter. That old investment adage is as true today as it was back in the 1950’s, when the U.S. national reserve currency came in the form of gold bars rather than printed green slips. In the past year, there’s been a huge debate surging among the investment community about a potential reintroduction of the gold standard. Many think the price...

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Sources close to embattled insurer American International Group confirmed that it has just sold its downtown Tokyo headquarters, the Otemachi Building. Having previously said that it was trying to sell the building, there reportedly were at least two potential bidders, with the likely buyer being a Japanese insurance company. The price is expected to be about $1 billion, according to recent...

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American International Group CEO Edward Liddy should be breathing a sigh of relief. AIG may not be at the beginning of the end, but as Winston Churchill once said, it is the end of the beginning. AIG has sold, transferred or renamed many of its assets. Its first quarter loss of $4 billion was substantial, but a lot less than the fourth quarter debacle of $60 billion, and the smallest loss in a...

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