Tuesday
A European lending shortage is being made worse by the central banks? meager yields, which are squeezing bank profits. Top European banks are now stockpiling money at central banks around the world, to the tune of $816 billion, up roughly 50% for the year.
Investing Insights: Bank of America, Toyota Motor, Barnes & Noble High Demand Shares Feb. 21st.
A request has been filed with a New York state court that would block the deposition of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan in a lawsuit filed by MBIA, which alleges fraud by BofA headache Countrywide Financial.
While stock trade data from the London and Italian bourses have until now only been available with a 15-minute delay, the London Stock Exchange is signing a data licensing agreement with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) allowing it to distribute real-time data free of charge.
Don?t Miss: Dissension at the Fed? A Critic of Easy Money Speaks His Mind.
Thursday
RBS (NYSE:RBS) reported a 2011 net loss of 2 billion pounds compared with a 1.1 billion-pound loss in 2010. Analysts had forecast another 1.1 billion-pound loss in 2011. A 950 million-pound provision to compensate some customers for being improperly sold personal-loan insurance contributed to losses. RBS I-bankers are still receiving bonuses, though the bonus pool has been cut to 390 million pounds from 950 million pounds a year ago.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is adding as many as five branches in China over the next 2-3 years, accelerating its expansion there. The company currently has three branches: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou (Canton). Bank of America is amenable to other options, including a securities venture with a local partner.
Investing Insights: JPMorgan Takes Bets on More Debt.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) is selling its entire stake in India?s Housing Development Finance Corp. on Friday, with the goal of raising up to $2.1 billion, according to sources. Holding 145 million shares, or around a 9.9 percent stake, Citigroup is seeking to bolster its capital with the sale, in light of new banking rules.
Adding foreign debt to its portfolio, including bonds tied to U.K. and Dutch mortgages, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) has more than tripled its holdings of mortgage securities, which lack U.S. government guarantees, from $19 billion at the end of 2009 to $72 billion today. In contrast, other leading U.S. banks are cutting back holdings of U.S. subprime securities, and are expanding agency notes guaranteed by GSEs.
Don?t Miss: How Much Are Big Banks Hated?
Friday
Citigroup (NYSE:C) sold 145.3 million shares (657.56 rupees apiece) of Housing Development Finance Corp., which constituted its total investment in India?s largest mortgage lender, for a total of $1.9 billion. This was at a 6 percent discount to HDFC?s closing price yesterday
Lloyds? (NYSE:LYG) says it expects 2012 to ?remain challenging,? citing Britain?s ?subdued? economy, regulatory scrutiny and market uncertainty. It had expected a ?4 billion pre-tax loss, but suffered a ?3.5 billion loss instead, which takes a ?3.2 billion one-off provision for the PPI scandal into consideration. Additionally, its bonus pool was cut 30 percent to ?375 million, Core Tier 1 capital ratio was up 60 basis points to 10.8 percent, and income down 10 million to ?21.1 billion, which is project to fall again in 2012.
H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) comments that, ?It is still early, but we believe that we are clearly on pace to gain share in both our retail and digital channels this tax season.?, as it announces that a 16.7 percent year-to-year rise in digital returns have prompted its total prepared tax returns to jum 6.7 percent in this tax season to date.
A fourth quarter earnings report has caused AIG (NYSE:AIG) shares to rise quickly. The U.S. Treasury got $29 per share when it sold a portion of its AIG holdings in a ?re-IPO? in may 2011, but shares briefly topped that price Friday. Treasury still retains a 77 percent stake, and if AIG shares can stay hold near that price, it will probably try another sale. However, Bernstein points out that the price point might diminish further rise in the shares.
Jog cuts at Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) include traders within BMO Capital Markets? equity, foreign-exchange and mortgage-banking operations, according to an executive with the bank. The total number of those employees impacted is sixty.
Shareholders are apparently not satisfied with Aetna?s (NYSE:AET) announcement of a new $750 million stock buyback plan, which increases its total available authorization to $1.045 billion. So far this year approximately $127 million worth of shares have been repurchased.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lawson at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com
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