Lawsuits against financial institutions under investigation for manipulating interbank lending rates such as Libor continue to pile up, according to The Wall Street Journal. Plaintiffs holding bonds that pay some amount above the Libor rate have the best chances at legal victory, The Journal says. The legal liability facing banks may total as much as $176 billion, according to Macquarie.
Last week, Citigroup (C) chief executive officer went around telling everyone (read: The Financial Times and an audience in Singapore) that Citigroup didn’t need to be broken up, as former Citi CEO Sandy Weill had argued last month. Mr. Pandit’s media tour continued yesterday: Regulators telling banks which products they can sell undermines financial stability, somehow, he told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Occupy Central protesters in Hong Kong face a legal deadline to leave HSBC headquarters, where the group has been protesting for 10 months, according to Bloomberg.
London-based investment bankers would rather work in Singapore than London or New York, according to a survey conducted by recruitment firm Astbury Marsden; 60 percent of those surveyed expect the Asia-Pacific region to be the world’s largest financial center in 10 years.
Some European bankers are being asked to watch what they say at the bar.
Spain is expected to tap about $75 billion in rescue funding, about 60 percent of the facility approved by European finance ministers last month, The New York Times reports.
Blackstone (BX) adds another name to its succession plan; CEO Steve Schwarzman still expected to “die at his desk.”
The Times takes a closer look at Luis A. Aguilar, the SEC commission who scuttled the agency’s attempts to impose new rules on money market funds.
Nomura is getting ready to slash jobs in equities and investment banking, according to Reuters.
Deutsche Bank (DB) introduced rules that allow it to claw back shares bestowed on employees in return for unvested stock awarded by their previous employer, the Financial Times reports. Other banks may follow suit.
A producer for The Wolf of Wall Street, which stars Leonard DiCaprio as a crooked stockbroker, is suing the film’s production company for reducing her role behind the scenes, The New York Post reports.
Chinese investors are buying up Bordeaux vineyards.
