This is the latest M&A rumour making the rounds in financial circles. I caught this in Today's Financial News.
And that may be the moment when National Australia Bank (NAB:Australia) makes a formal offer for the Australian branch…
I caught a blog entry on naked capitalism that reminds me of the impending wave of lawsuits associated with the credit crunch. It seems that investment banks were peddling auction rate securities to retail investors while warning the…
UPDATE 26 SEP 2008: I have a new story on Fortis and its troubles. Please click here.
The Times of London is reporting that Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch bank is issuing an 'urgent' cash call of €1.5 billion. Fortis has been hard hit by the…
Today, American Express said that consumers are increasingly falling behind on payments. This suggests that credit card charge-offs at banks are about to go much higher in the coming quarters.A story by Bloomberg News reads:American Express…
Troubled regional Financial Fifth Third is looking to sell assets along with cutting its dividend and raising capital in order to shore up its balance sheet. The company announced it was looking into asset sales when it announced its…
The suits are piling up. Angelo Mozilo is looking like the new Ken Lay for Washington.California's attorney general has filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Countrywide Financial Corp. engaged in deceptive advertising and unfair…
Of all the merger decisions in the banking industry of late, BofA's decision to back Countrywide Financial is the most risky. The fallout from Countrywide only gets worse day by day. I am astounded that this deal is on track. BofA…
Barclays was successful in raising the money it needed. It was able to avoid a rights issue with the attendant problems that HBOS has faced by going cap in hand to Asia and the Middle East. In the end, it was the Qatar Investment Authority…
Wachovia has hired Goldman Sachs and UBS has hired Wachovia to help each with a 'strategic review.' For those in the financial services business, strategic review always means 'merger options'.Lazard has almost no business except its…