Frank Says Auto Deal on Course

Emerging from a meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office Monday afternoon, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) signaled that a near-finished auto industry bailout bill is on track for passage.“I don’t see anything that’s going to stop an agreement,” Frank said. “It...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 8, 2008

Companies Line Up for Expanded FDIC Coverage

The Bank of New York Mellon said Friday that it will continue to participate in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), joining other companies that announced the same Thursday. The program provides 100 percent insurance coverage for domestic noninteres...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 5, 2008

From 30 Rock to Breaking Rocks

Editor’s Update: On December 11, Victor Jung was sentenced to one year and one day for his role in the embezzlement.The former treasury manager of General Electric’s NBC Universal unit was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in a scheme to steal over $800,000 from the entertainment comp...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 3, 2008

Pelosi Vows Auto Fix

Congress and the White House don’t appear any closer to an agreement on how to aid the ailing auto industry, but some kind of action on the issue is certain, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday.“I believe that an intervention will happen, either legislatively or from the administration,”...

By Roll Call Staff • Dec. 3, 2008

U.S. Programs Pour Out Aid to Financial Cos.

The government is pouring out aid this week to a number of additional financial companies under several of its recently instituted support programs.Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo, and GE Capital are now in various stages of selling bonds backed by the govern...

By Stephen Taub and Roy Harris • Dec. 3, 2008

BofA, Morgan Pull Off First U.S.-backed Deals

In deals backed by the U.S. government’s guarantee programs, Bank of America raised $9 billion and Morgan Stanley sold $350 million in notes.BofA sold $6.75 billion of 3.5-year fixed-rate notes, $1 billion of 2-year floating-rate notes, $750 million of 3-year quarterly floating-rate notes and $50...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 2, 2008

Which Changes Will Business Believe In?

As President-Elect Barack Obama prepares to take office next month, many are wondering what a Democratic Administration and Congress will mean for the business climate in the United States. “Everyone knows the pendulum is swinging, but many CFOs are concerned it might swing too far,” says John Gr...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2008

Trials and Tabulations

Finance executives have struggled against a tide of rising costs in the past year, paying more for everything from the commodities embedded in their products to the milk that swirls in their morning coffee. Service costs have also skyrocketed, perhaps nowhere more than in the legal arena.With fee...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Dec. 1, 2008

Beyond the Bailout

The juggernaut that is executive pay seemingly hit a roadblock when Congress wrote compensation limits into the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. As regulators wrangle over how to enforce these boundaries at banks, a bigger question looms: What do they mean for everyone else?Not much, say som...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2008

Subprime Suspects

In past financial blowups, auditors have paid a heavy price. After the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s, for example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. collected more than $1 billion in settlements from four of the then–Big Six for their alleged complicity. Eight years ago, Arthur Ande...

By Alix Stuart • Dec. 1, 2008

EU Executive Proposes Massive Economic Stimulus

The European Commission has unveiled plans for a €200 billion economic recovery plan, equivalent to 1.5% of the EU’s total gross domestic product, a move that it described as an “exceptional response” to a “period of exceptional economic crisis.” European Commission President José Manuel Barros...

By European Voice Staff • Nov. 27, 2008

Treasury Snaps Up $40b of AIG Equity

American International Group Inc. received $40 billion from the Department of the Treasury under the Troubled Assets Relief Program.As part of the deal to help keep the insurer afloat, Treasury purchased four million shares of AIG Series D preferred stock and a warrant to purchase a number of AIG...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 26, 2008

Obama’s Accounting Expert?

Google Paul Volcker, and most of the results will focus on the former Fed chairman’s role as a hardnosed inflation fighter. In the late 1970s, Volcker jacked up interest rates, successfully taming runaway inflation, but also sparking the severe 1981-82 recession. In a news conference today, Presi...

By Tim Reason • Nov. 26, 2008

Moody’s: TARP Covers Well with Preferred Stock

Moody’s Investors Service takes a positive view of the government’s infusion of capital to ailing financial institutions in the form of preferred stock issued under the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program.In a new report, the debt-rating company notes that capital injection comes at a time whe...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 21, 2008

Is the SEC Soft-Pedaling IFRS?

Securities and Exchange Commission officials continue to talk about the importance of creating a unified set of global financial reporting standards, but lately, some steam seems to have gone out of the agency’s push.Last week, the SEC finally issued its long-promised roadmap for the mandatory ad...

By David McCann • Nov. 19, 2008

Big Business Finding It Tough to Alter Its Stripes

It’s been nearly two years since Democrats took control of Congress, but K Street’s corporate offices are still seeing red.Unlike many lobby shops and law firms that solidified their bipartisanship after the midterm elections and often have Democrats heading their advocacy operations, most Fortun...

By Roll Call Staff • Nov. 19, 2008

Oppenheimer Sued by Mass. over ARS

A Massachusetts state administrative complaint made Oppenheimer & Co. the latest financial services firm to be accused of violating securities laws in its sale of auction rate securities.Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said in the complaint that Oppenheimer “improperly conduct...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 18, 2008

Dutch Treat? Aegon Aims for TARP Funds

The attraction of the Treasury Department’s promised Troubled Asset Relief Program dollars is spreading — across the Atlantic. Dutch insurer Aegon NV said it may buy Maryland-based thrift Suburban Federal Savings Bank, to qualify Aegon for the government TARP bailout program. “This is part of our...

By Roy Harris and Stephen Taub • Nov. 18, 2008

Maverick Owner Cuban Hit with Insider Charge

Billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of pro basketball’s Dallas Mavericks, was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of engaging in illegal insider trading in an effort to save $750,000.The case stems from his investment in Mamma.com Inc., an Internet search engine company now known as Coper...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 17, 2008

S&P: Mortgage Securities Are Safer than Collateral

Under fire from critics who say the rating agencies contributed to the financial crisis by slapping sterling grades on questionable securities, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a new report contending that Grade AAA securitization paper might be more immune to losses than previou...

By David Katz • Nov. 14, 2008

NY Banking Probe Target: $250,000 Bonuses

How big does a bonus have to be to appear on the radar screen of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigation of possible compensation abuses by financial firms receiving government bailout money? Apparently, it’s $250,000.According to the Associated Press, Cuomo has subpoenaed Bank of ...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 13, 2008

Ex-HR Exec Charged with Health-care Embezzlement

A former head of human resources for electronics firm Hitachi America Ltd. was charged with defrauding the company’s health care plan of about $8 million.Dennis Dowd, formerly the HR senior manager of the subsidiary of Japan-based Hitachi Ltd., was charged with one count of embezzlement in connec...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 13, 2008

Blue Coat, Ex-CFO Settle over Backdating

Network security company Blue Coat Systems Inc. and its former chief financial officer, Robert P. Verheecke, agreed to settle Securities and Exchange Commission stock-option backdating charges.The regulator accused Blue Coat and Verheecke of providing backdated grants to executives and employees ...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 12, 2008

EU Fails its Spending Audit, Again

The European Court of Auditors has, for the 14th year running, refused to give a clean bill of health to the EU’s spending. In its annual report published on November 10th, the auditors give their verdict on the EU’s budget for 2007. They warn of continuing problems with spending on cohesion, whi...

By European Voice Staff • Nov. 12, 2008

Getting Your Request on Obama’s Agenda

Trade groups see next January 20, President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration day, as their version of Christmas Day. So they’re getting their corporate wish lists ready now. And by petitioning him before he takes office, they hope to see their pet projects addressed in his first three months as ...

By Sarah Johnson • Nov. 11, 2008