It gets worse in Spain. In the run-up to the current crisis, banks sold retail customers 22 billion euros of high-yielding preferred shares. Bank losses deepened, the securities plunged in value and the retail customers saw their savings diminished, and in some cases, locked in an illiquid product. Now, angry Spaniards are finding Read More
Royal Bank of Scotland managers and traders routinely sought to influence interbank lending rates between 2007 and 2010, and the wrongdoings extend beyond the four traders fired last year, according to Bloomberg. Manipulating the bank’s submissions for Libor and other interbank lending rates would have allowed traders to boost the value of derivatives positions held by RBS, which is 81 percent owned by the British government.
Goodbye Smith Barney: Morgan Stanley is rolling out a name-change for the 75-year-old brand, according to The New York Post. The brokerage, jointly-owned with Citigroup, will be called Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. In its heyday, Smith Barney was known for its advertising slogan: “They make money the old fashioned way: They earn it.” Read More
Barclays named Antony Jenkins, head of retail and business banking at the British lender, as its new chief executive. Mr. Jenkins, who started his career at Barclays in 1983, replaces Bob Diamond, who resigned last month in the days after the bank agreed to a $450 million settlement over its alleged attempts to Read More
“If you can keep the evening stuff to a dull roar that would great! There are just so many events,” gripped Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo to a publicist at Naeem Khan’s Valentine’s Day show. [sigh] The fashion week life!
We’re content to note that she had little reason to complain after Mr. Khan presented his Read More
Watching President Obama in Cairo the other day, I was struck by his vision, ambition, and his desire to bring about change. Having voted for him in the New York primary last year and in the general election in November, I confess to having enormous sympathy for him. I root for him like he is Read More
In characteristic English style, Peter Mandelson smiled wanly and spoke politely as he plunged the knife into recently departed European leaders during an appearance last month at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“I make, obviously, no personal comment at all on the records of President Chirac or Gerhard Schroeder in Germany,” said Mr. Mandelson, a Read More
At the end of an interview with Der Spiegel published last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said, “Now I have a question.”
Haniya: In addition to being prime minister, I am also the Minister of Youth and Sports. I used to play football myself. What do I have to do to Read More
