Citi Struggles Under Fed Oversight, About to Get More

Bank faces 'extremely challenging' conditions, CEO says

(NEWSER) - Citigroup plans to cut some 4,500 jobs—2% of its global workforce—in the coming months as it "faces an extremely challenging operating environment," CEO Vikram Pandit warns. Pandit, who has cut more than 100,000 jobs at Citi since taking charge in 2007, says regulatory changes and the euro zone crisis are among the factors forcing the company to cut costs as revenue slumps, Reuters reports. More»

Banks took in billions of dollars, even as they claimed to be healthy

(NEWSER) - For more than two years, the Fed and the banks it bailed out during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis have kept many of the details of the massive, multi-trillion-dollar bailout a secret. But, thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests, 29,000 pages of bailout details are pouring out of the Fed at last, and those details are explained in an extended and damning report by Bloomberg Markets magazine. Among the biggest revelations:

• $7.77 trillion: the total amount doled out in aid by the Fed to all the banks, as of March 2009, which Bloomberg notes surpasses 50% of the value of "everything produced in the US that year." In comparison, the $700 billion TARP "at least had some strings attached," says one House Democrat. "With the Fed programs, there was nothing."

Bloomberg reveals peak amount for the first time

(NEWSER) - In 2006, their best year ever, the 10 biggest US banks and brokerage firms made $104 billion in profits. By 2008, they had taken more than six times that amount—$669 billion—in emergency Federal Reserve loans. That amount, as well as amount loaned by the Fed to all its borrowers, remained secret until Bloomberg obtained the information via FOIA requests. The peak borrowing? On Dec. 5, 2008, banks and other companies had an outstanding balance of $1.2 trillion—which, Bloomberg notes, is about how much US homeowners now owe on delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. More»

He'll make at least $23.2 million; had been earning $1

(NEWSER) - Vikram Pandit isn’t the lowest-paid guy on Wall Street anymore. Citigroup has rewarded its CEO, who has worked for a token $1 salary for the past two years, with a massive retention package. If the company hits its estimated performance, Pandit will make $23.2 million in stock and cash. But if it hits the loftier numbers analysts are expecting, that windfall will balloon to $42 million, Bloomberg reports. More»

Banks sought to block details from media

(NEWSER) - The Federal Reserve will release information on several emergency loans it made to prominent banks when the financial crisis struck in 2008, CNNMoney reports. Bloomberg News initially filed a lawsuit against the Fed in an attempt to gain details on the loans; the Fed declined the request due to "trade secrets" that might be revealed in the fine print. While the banks and Fed won the initial lawsuit, an appellate court ruled that the media should get the information. More»