Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Reuters | Oil giant BP Plc is considering a corporate debt
offering of $5 billion to $10 billion as early as next week, CNBC
reported Thursday.
BP is discussing the offering with five banks, including Goldman Sachs
and Morgan Stanley, CNBC reported. A spokesman for Goldman Sachs
declined comment. Morgan Stanley and BP did not have immediate comment.
Reuters via The New York Times | Around the turn of every year, bankers can think of only one thing: the size of their bonuses. Even beyond bonus season, they run different scenarios and assumptions, trying to calculate their number.
This distracts them so much that the bigger the bonus at stake, the worse the performance, according to behavioral economist Dan Ariely, who lays out his theory in his new book “The Upside of Irrationality.”
Get the full story: nytimes.com.
Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal | Bank of America Corp.
and other banks are preparing new fees on basic banking services as
they try to replace revenue lost to regulatory rules, in a push that is
expected to spell an end to free checking accounts for many Americans.
Free checking accounts, which have been widely available for more than
a decade, have been a boon to middle-class consumers and attracted
low-income customers to the banking system for the first time.
Associated Press | Anyone with a bank account or credit card has a stake in the overhaul of
financial rules Congress is working on. But the industry ties of some
politicians writing the law go far beyond the norm.
One senator’s wife is a director of a securities exchange; another
senator and his wife run a multimillion-dollar title company. And a
congresswoman’s husband drew salaries from three industry players last
year.
Several lawmakers hashing out a House-Senate compromise on the
legislation have millions in financial services company investments or
owe big mortgage debts to banks lobbying on the legislation, according
to an Associated Press review of financial disclosure reports released
Wednesday.
By Becky Yerak | Bridgeview Bancorp Inc., which in December 2008 became one of the first privately-held banks in the Chicago area to receive a capital infusion from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, missed its dividend payment in the latest quarter.
From Bloomberg | A group of brokers is claiming that Wall Street’s largest banks are using CME Group and other companies that operate derivatives clearinghouses to block smaller firms and protect the money they make from trading swaps.
Get the full story: bloomberg.com.
From Bloomberg | Corus Bankshares Inc., the holding company whose bank was taken over by regulators in September, sought bankruptcy protection from creditors, listing assets of $314.1 million and debt of $532.9 million in Chapter 11 documents in U.S. bankruptcy court in Chicago.
Get the full story: bloomberg.com.
From Bloomberg | In an objection filed with U.S. regulators, Tribune Co. bondholders said the bankrupt newspaper company should be prevented from reassigning its broadcasting licenses to the lenders who financed Tribune Co.’s 2007 buyout. Under the plan, bondholders owed about $1.2 billion would be paid nothing, while the lenders would get more than 90 percent of Tribune Co.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Associated Press | The Federal Reserve has launched a new program that allows banks to set up the equivalent of certificates of deposit at the Fed. In an operation conducted Tuesday, the Fed says banks will be paid 0.27 percent in interest on 14-day “term deposits” set up at the central bank.
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Credit Suisse Group A.G. has appointed two executives to lead the investment banking department of its Chicago office, naming James Nappo and Todd Noffke as co-heads of that unit, the Zurich-based bank said.
Get the full story: Credit Suisse names 2 execs to head Chicago unit.
Dow Jones Newswires | Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. has put its
private-banking chief, Kristine Garrett, in charge of all of its
wealth-management and private banking operations.
She takes over supervision of the Privatebank’s Private Wealth Group from Gary Collins, who left PrivateBancorp late last year.
Reuters | Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co are likely to be
the lead underwriters in a General Motors initial public offering, The
Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, a role that may bring the banks
glory, but not much in fees.
The underwriting banks are expected to get less than 1 percent of the
deal in fees, the Journal reported, citing an unnamed source. A typical
fee for an IPO is 7 percent, but in recent years some larger deals have
carried lower fees.
Associated Press | A banking group says Democrat Alexi Giannoulias didn’t serve on its board of directors like he’s claimed on his Senate campaign website. The Community Banks Association of Illinois said Wednesday that Giannoulias served on its Committee on Legislation and Regulation.
Get the full story: Giannoulis fixes claim of being director.
By Becky Yerak | About
30 people showed up downtown at noon Wednesday to protest the expected
federal bailout of ShoreBank, the troubled South Side lender.
Last month, ShoreBank firmed up commitments for about $135 million in
new capital from such private sources as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank
of America, Chase and General Electric. With the private capital,
ShoreBank might also be eligible for about $75 million in money from the
U.S. Treasury. It’s finalizing the deal.
