Occidental Petroleum Corp. has decided that it will purchase Citigroup’s Phibro business, a surprising move considering Occidental’s traditionally conservative leanings. Acquiring Phibro means that Occidental will enter the notoriously volatile world of oil trading, a market that brings great risk with the potential for significant rewards.
The company will pay $250 million for Phibro, its net asset value, allowing it to take advantage of Phibro’s several expert traders to help Occidental minimize risk and maximize reward as it begins to trade energy derivatives. Occidental joins a variety of other oil giants that have long been big players in energy trading markets, …read more

Citigroup Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit is not worried about the future, according to his recent statements concerning his bank’s plans. Pandit stated that he has “little doubt” that his company would quickly return to profitability once the economy starts to show definite signs of recovery.
 
Pandit also spoke of his plans to repay back the Federal Reserve for the bailout money his company received, stating that it would do so in compliance with regulators when it is in a better spot. Due to the government’s increased interest in the country’s financial institutions, Pandit has been trying to get the …read more

Wells Fargo was one of the first banks to receive federal bailout money as part of the economic stimulus package and it will be one of the last to pay the government back what it borrowed. A Wells Fargo spokesperson stated that the company will return $25 billion to the government soon without selling any additional stock.
Out of the first nine huge financial institutions that received bailout money, only Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup have still not paid the government back. However, Bank of American and Citigroup both received aid on two separate occasions, with Bank of America …read more

Troubled financial institution Citigroup has decided to move around several of its executives in what appears to be an attempt to quell the concerns that federal regulators have had about the company. Former president and chief operating officer of FleetBoston Eugene Mcquade has been tapped to become chief executive of Citibank, while CFO Ned Kelly will be replaced by chief accounting officer John Gerspach.
Federal regulators from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have long criticized Citigroup’s management for its apparent lack of experience in retail and commercial banking. Mcquade has the plenty of the kind of experience that the FDIC has …read more

Citigroup Inc. lost its most senior executive in Asia to MasterCard Inc. when Ajay Banga, 49, left his executive role at Citigroup to become next in line for the title of CEO of MasterCard. On August 31, MasterCard president and CEO Robert Selander will cede his president title to Banga, who will also serve as the chief operating officer.
 
MasterCard Worldwide debuted in 2006 and has done very well since its launch, with its stock more than quadrupling in value throughout the last three years. Banga leaves behind a troubled Citigroup, which recently took $45 billion from the U.S. government as …read more

When it comes to stock market indexes in the Unites States, the Dow Jones industrial average is king. On Monday, General Motors and Citigroup got the heave-ho from the Dow Jones.
This isn’t a very surprising turn of events. With GM and Citigroup now being highly involved with the United States federal government, most market experts believed this to be a logical step.
Market experts also weren’t surprised by the two replacements — Travelers Co and Cisco Systems. Cisco Systems is an addition that makes a lot of sense because of its connection to the growing internet world. Travelers Co, which is …read more

According to reports on Saturday, Sumitomo Mitsui, one of Japan’s top three banks, now has exclusive negotiating rights from Citigroup to acquire Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. — Citigroup Inc.’s Japanese brokerage unit.
Exclusive negotiating rights are awarded to the highest bidder. Reportedly Sumitomo Mitsui offered approximately 500 billion yen ($5 billion USD) to beat out Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, according to the Nikkei business daily newspaper.
Kyodo news agency also reported that Sumitomo Mitsui has attained negotiating rights from Citigroup to buy Nikko Cordial, Japan’s third-biggest brokerage.
Citigroup is trying to scale back in Japan in order to …read more

Thanks to good news coming out of the banking industry, Tuesday saw the stock market rally after a slow start. Many experts are saying Timothy Geithner, the Unites States Secretary of the Treasury, played a vital role in increases confidence in the nation’s banks.
By the end of the trading period, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 7,969.6 — up nearly 1.7% on the day. NASDAQ was up 2.2% to 1,643.9, Russell 2000 was up nearly 4% to 470.1 and the S&P’s 500 was up approximately 2% to 850.1.
On Monday, banks suffered mightily on the stock market. On Tuesday, they …read more

In the last few weeks, the United States stock market had been growing at a healthy rate due in large part to renewed confidence in the nation’s financial sector. However, that confidence took a hit on Monday and as a result the stock market suffered.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 3.5% for a total of 290 points. By the end of trading, the Dow was at 7,841.7. Other stock indexes showed similar struggles. The Russell 2000 fell more than 5.5% to 452, the S&P’s 500 dropped more than 4% to 832 and NASDAQ wad down approximately 4% …read more

Tomorrow Citigroup holds its annual meeting, and with it a vote on the Audit & Risk Management Committee. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Pension Plan is pushing for a no vote on the currently serving members of the committee, and they’re not alone. Financial analysis company, RiskMetrics, also recommends that shareholders vote no on re-electing many of the committee members.
Citigroup has accepted the lion’s share of the U.S. government bank bailout funds to date. High risk ‘toxic’ assets caused them to suffer extreme losses on the balance sheets and, ultimately, in shareholder value. Critics of the current …read more