01 Apr 2005 09:52 AM

Treasury Secretary John Snow urged Congressmen to pass legislature restricting the size of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s mortgage portfolios. The remark follows a discussion of the necessity of tougher oversight of the two government agencies. Yesterday

01 Apr 2005 09:03 AM

Morgan Stanley’s Philip J. Purcell made new efforts yesterday to recover his control over the split firm. The company officials were preparing a public letter in support of Mr. Purcell to be signed by the members of the management committees and senior managing directors. The number of the bankers to sign on remains unrevealed

01 Apr 2005 08:55 AM

Two leading banks for Switzerland and Germany UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG agreed to form a group of advisors for Australia’s most recent decision to hike hostile-takeover value to the records.

01 Apr 2005 07:26 AM

The board of the World Bank by common consent approved Paul D. Wolfowitz yesterday as the bank’s next president. This was the first time when a Bush administration’s nominee was given the helm of the world-wide anti-poverty institution.

31 Mar 2005 11:29 AM

The nomination of US Paul Wolfowitz, former officer of the U.S. Defense and State departments, to head the World Bank provoked arguments concerning his role in the Iraq war and lack of diplomatic experience.

30 Mar 2005 06:31 PM

Bank of Communications, China’s fifth-largest lender, made public it received a capital inflow last year equal to three billion yuan ($362.5 million) from a shareholder who is under supervision of the country’s foreign-exchange regulator. China’s banking regulator publicized a blueprint for revamping two of the Big Four state-owned

30 Mar 2005 12:04 PM

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported today that the central bank lacks independence in order to provide an efficient and credible monetary policy. New York Fed President Timothy Geithner, in his turn, remarked that the empirical evidence has shown that independent

30 Mar 2005 10:38 AM

EU gave the green light on Paul Wolfowitz’s nomination to the post of World Bank president after he promised to recruit a ``truly multinational’’ board to run the international development lender. ``I look forward to having a truly multinational senior staff,’’ Wolfowitz said after today’s EU meeting. ``There’s great

30 Mar 2005 10:21 AM

The largest Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV made a lucrative offer of 6.3 billion euros ($8.16 billion) to take the major stake in Banca Antonveneta SpA and expand on the European market. The bank now owns 12.7% in Banca Antonveneta and if ABN manages to buy the stake it does not own it will get

30 Mar 2005 08:11 AM

Mortgage applications rose 2.4 percent to 674.3 in the week ended March 25, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications declined 2% to 1857.2. Fixed

30 Mar 2005 08:05 AM

The virtual ``unanimous’’ support of the board for Morgan Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Philip Purcell does not bring him back the lost confidence of shareholders. Purcell’s recent reshuffles made the situation even worse.

29 Mar 2005 04:11 PM

A number of miscalculations by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and the lawyer defending it in a class-action lawsuit against WorldCom Inc. investors resulted in the bank being made to pay extra $630 million to settle the suit, people familiar with the matter said. The

29 Mar 2005 02:20 PM

ING Groep NV Friday disclosed the purchase of a 19.9% stake in Bank of Beijing for 1.78 billion yuan ($215.1 million or €165.4 million), as foreign banks compete to buy into the fast-growing Chinese market. At the same time, the World Bank’s investment branch, International Finance Corp., intends to acquire a 5% stake in the bank, ING and the Chinese bank said. Details of the IFC deal weren’t revealed, though a person familiar

29 Mar 2005 01:54 PM

Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley told its investors that it may have to store some money to cover the losses from its court struggle with financier Ronald Perelman in the wake of a judge’s unfavourable ruling. In a regulatory filing issued on March 23, Morgan Stanley said it might need to "increase the reserve" for this litigation

29 Mar 2005 08:59 AM

Morgan Stanley has appointed tephen Crawford and Zoe Cruz co-presidents for its institutional and retail brokerages and its investment-management unit. Wall Street’s second-largest securities firm did not specify in its statement the impact these appointments will have on the functions of the President, Stephan Newhouse, who was named to this post in October 2003. According