Fed Tells BofA, Citi to Raise Billions

(NEWSER) - In the wake of reports that complaining banks cajoled the Federal Reserve into sweetening some stress test results, the Wall Street Journal looks at the hard numbers. Citigroup, for example, was originally supposed to raise $35 billion; the number eventually released was $5.5 billion. The total for Bank of America, meanwhile, shrank from more than $50 billion to $33.9 billion. More»

Pandit out at Citi?

(NEWSER) - The nation's biggest banks will start to learn how they did on the dreaded stress test today, reports the New York Times. Though the public won’t learn the results until May 4, analysts are predicting that many of the 19 banks will have to raise large amounts of new capital to survive a prolonged recession. Bank of America and Citigroup are thought to be in especially dire straights. More»

Bank tells Fed it'll shrink its footprint if things get rough

(NEWSER) - Should we start calling it Bank of Some of America? If push comes to shove, the banking giant is prepared to pull its operations out of some parts of the country, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The unpalatable retreat is one of several contingency plans the bank drew up last year at the Federal Reserve's insistence, an exercise intended to prepare for the possibility that its mortgage and other financial problems could worsen. More»

Standard & Poor's applies new criteria to banks around the world

(AP) - Standard & Poor's is adjusting the ratings on 37 of the world's largest financial institutions, and that means downgrades for the biggest banks in the US. Bank of America and its main subsidiaries were among those cut at least one notch today, along with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. More»

(NEWSER) - Bank of America and Citigroup both posted estimate-topping profits today, but neither inspired much confidence, the New York Times reports. Both numbers hinged on one-time gains from asset sales. In Bank of America’s case, earnings fell 5.5% to $3.22 billion, a number propped up by the sale of its stake in a big Chinese bank. Citigroup pulled in $4.28 billion, but only because it sold off part of Smith Barney. More»