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28 Nov 2011 11:28

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Biz: Bloomberg: Banks scored sneaky profits on emergency loans

  • $13 billion earned by banks via roundabout loans source
  • » How they worked: These banks took advantage of a set of emergency loans from the Federal Reserve distributed between August 2007 and April 2010. Bloomberg Markets magazine did the math on the numbers and figured out that, by looking at the companies’ net interest margin, you could see how the companies took advantage of the below-market rates they got on the loans to earn a profit. The companies that scored the biggest paydays? Citigroup, which earned $1.8 billion, and Bank of America, which earned $1.5 billion.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2011 16:07

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Biz: Citigroup settles civil fraud complaint over derivatives scheme

  • $285 million payout by Citigroup over fraud complaint source
  • » A tidy little sum: It’s being reported that Citigroup has agreed to the above settlement, which would bring to an end a civil fraud complaint filed by some of their investors. The story is, as it happens, quite similar to what Goldman Sachs was found to have done (Goldman shelled out $550 million in that case). Citigroup helped structure investment portfolios for their clients without telling them that the bank itself was selecting the assets while betting against their success. In simple terms, a conflict of interest, and one that netted the company nearly $1 billion dollars. That figure, also, says something about the problem of mega-corporations buying out of legal trouble; namely, the amount it costs to satisfy a plaintiff is nearly never enough to such a company to truly dissuade the behavior.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jun 2011 10:58

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Biz: Citigroup: Yeah, a bunch of bank card numbers got hacked

  • 200k number of customers Citi says were affected by a breach of their system
  • 1% share of Citigroup’s overall North American customer base affected by the hack
  • one number of months it took the company to tell consumers about the incident source
  • » So what was affected? The company says that the hack involved names, bank card numbers and contact information such as e-mail addresses. Not affected were cardholders’ social security numbers, card expiration dates or CVV numbers. All this is of course is awesome to wait a month to tell everyone!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Feb 2011 23:26

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Biz: Bank Of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo feel heat over mortgages

  • The current environment of heightened regulatory scrutiny has the potential to subject the corporation to inquiries or investigations that could significantly adversely affect its reputation.
  • A statement from Bank of America • Noting in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company could be subject to huge penalties over their abusive mortgage practices. They’re not alone; Wells Fargo and Citigroup ware in the same boat, and it’s all thanks to the shady way that the trio dealt with their foreclosures. The reports from the companies suggest that all three will take a financial hit for said shadiness. Bank of America says that the state and federal inquiries “could result in material fines, penalties, equitable remedies (including requiring default servicing or other process changes), or other enforcement actions, and result in significant legal costs.” In other words, they’re screwed for screwing over homeowners. Oops. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Feb 2011 22:59

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Biz, Music: Citigroup owns EMI: Will they start selling CDs at bank branches?

  • 2007 In one of the most un-rock-‘n’-roll moves a major label has ever done, private equity firm Terra Firma, led by financier Guy Hands, buys EMI for $6.7 billion, $4.3 billion of which was loaned to Terra Firma by Citigroup in a deal which looks really stupid in retrospect.
  • 2011 A few years after the financial crisis made that deal look like a really stupid idea, the musical home of Radiohead, Blur and The Beatles was just taken over by Citigroup. Which means that the company that runs your ATM also sells the Beastie Boys’ catalogue. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Oct 2010 10:32

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Biz: Banking profits: Citigroup has another moneymaking quarter

  • $2.2 billion in profits for the banking giant source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 May 2010 20:29

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Biz: A traders’ whodunit; which idiot #(&@(* up the stock market?

  • what In a five-minute period,
    the Dow Jones Industrial
    went down by nearly a
    thousand points.
  • why It’s been suggested that
    a trader hit the wrong
    button and sold WAAAY
    too many stocks.
  • who Good question; some are
    pointing the finger at
    Citigroup, but whoever it
    was is fired. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Apr 2010 10:09

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Biz: Financial crisis-gobsmacked Citi actually has a solid quarter

  • $4.4
    billion     the size of Citi’s profit this quarter, their best period since 2007
  • $100
    billion     the amount the company has lost during the financial crisis
  • 7.7
    billion     the number of shares the government owns due to bailouts source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jan 2010 10:31

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Biz: Citigroup took a big loss to scare off the TARP monster

  • $7.6 billion to be rid of federal pressures source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Dec 2009 09:50

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Biz: TARP also-rans: Citigroup the last bank to pay back bailout funds

  • $20 billion the amount Citigroup is paying back – a loss of $5.1 billion in TARP funds for the good guys
  • $45 billion the amount Bank of America paid back to the government last week – so Citigroup stands alone source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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