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

One by one, the nation’s largest investment banks are announcing plans to buy back auction-rate securities.   Thick as thieves, aren’t they?  ;)
Today’s announcement came from Morgan Stanley, which will buy back up to $4.5 billion worth of auction-rate securities from retail customers who purchased them before February 12th and sold the securities at a loss on or before August 11th.
Securities sold to institutional investors will not be a part of the buyback, but Morgan Stanley will attempt to help the largest of those led into the ARS market with other liquidity solutions.
Last week, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $1.5 million to regulators in …read more