Citigroup

Zombie Bank's Recent Losses, some details

What a surprise. Citigroup posted a $7.8 billion dollar loss in Q4 2009.

LA Times:

The bank said that it lost about $1.6 billion in 2009 — after a $18.72 billion loss the year before. It also reported $7.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter, mostly as a result of a $10.1 billion accounting charge tied to the repayment of its bailout money, which ended any chance of a profit. Last year, the bank had a fourth quarter loss of $8.29 billion or a $1.72 a share.

At Citigroup, most of the fourth-quarter loss stemmed from an accounting charge linked to the company's exit from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Even without that charge, Citigroup would have lost $1.4 billion in the period.

SEC Subpoenas Goldman Sachs, Citigroup over CDOs

I can't find out much more information than this blurb from the Financial times:

Several leading international banks have received subpoenas from US regulators investigating one of the complex securities markets at the heart of the financial crisis, people familiar with the probe say.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sent subpoenas last month to banks including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital, these people said. Requests for information were also made by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversees broker-dealers.

And Then There Were One....Citigroup last TARP

Today BoA paid back TARP funds so they could pay a new CEO absurd amounts of executive compensation. That leaves Citigroup as the only TARP recipient who has not paid back the money from the $700 Billion.

The New York Times on Citigroup:

it may be difficult for the bank to reimburse the government anytime soon, given continuing problems with troubled assets and loan losses. It also must navigate some tricky tax issues that would accompany any repayment.

Citigroup has been pummeled in all parts of its financial empire, from credit cards and complex mortgage bonds in the United States to exposure to soured bonds in Dubai.

TARP Banks own 66% of all credit cards, 50% of all mortgages

Do you ever have one of those moments of pause and say to yourself, what have they done!

This was my reaction to a Washington Post article, Banks 'Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger.

The worst actors of the financial crisis, those who should have gone down in the flames they set themselves, who were rescued by our government, are now beyond belief mega financial oligarchs, limiting consumer choice and making a mockery of the phrase moral hazard:

WaPo Author Cho:

Citigroup Gets Audit by SIGTARP

Citigroup to get audited:

Citigroup Inc.’s $301 billion of federal asset guarantees, extended by the U.S. last year to help save the bank from collapse, will be audited to calculate losses and determine whether taxpayers got a fair deal.

Neil Barofsky, inspector general of the U.S. Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, agreed in an Aug. 3 letter to audit the program after a request by U.S. Representative Alan Grayson. Barofsky will examine why the guarantees were given, how they were structured and whether the bank’s risk controls are adequate to prevent government losses.

Business as Usual - Citigroup Engaging in Risky Trading

Now that the Dow has reached 9,000 and the financial crisis declared over, it seems banks, just weeks ago causing the entire world to be a potential Economic Armageddon, are back to their usual tricks, as previously noted on EP.

In The Final Straw for Citi we have yet more details on high risk trading....:

ere’s the scoop on this latest bailout outrage: Citi is planning to commit at least an additional $1 billion in capital to a team of stock-focused proprietary traders, say people with knowledge of these strategies — a move seemingly at odds with Pandit’s earlier vow.

The Headline Manipulation Buzz - 10 Banks Repaying TARP

Ever wonder when one sees pretty much the same headline on every single news site, blog and aggregator without much detail, how that happens?

(me too).

So what's behind this latest headline buzz of 10 banks paying back $68.3 Billion in TARP funds?

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley were among 10 lenders that won U.S. Treasury approval to buy back $68 billion of government shares, freeing them from added oversight that curbed lending practices, hiring and pay.

Now wait a minute. That is buying back shares, not necessarily repaying the real amount. Is that market value for these shares? Is that the price which the Government paid for them?

The New York Times:

Let the (Rigged) Games Begin! Reports of Citigroup, BoA Preparing to Ripoff the Taxpayer

This is one hell of a story. The New York Post is reporting:

As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner orchestrated a plan to help the nation's largest banks purge themselves of toxic mortgage assets, Citigroup and Bank of America have been aggressively scooping up those same securities in the secondary market, sources told The Post.

Both Citi and BofA each have received $45 billion in federal rescue cash meant to help prop up the economy and jumpstart the housing market.

But the banks' purchase of so-called AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities, including some that use alt-A and option ARM as collateral, is raising eyebrows among even the most seasoned traders. Alt-A and option ARM loans have widely been seen as the next mortgage type to see increases in defaults.

Shareholders Nationalize Citigroup - Stock Literally worth Pennies

Citigroup is being nationalized by shareholders as we speak. Nationalization is when the shareholders get nothing, the bank it taken over by the Government, cleaned up, broken up, all executive management tossed out and then the bank is privatized once again.

Bloomberg:

Citigroup fell to $1.03 at 12:32 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange after reaching 97 cents earlier today, marking an 85 percent decline this year and giving the New York-based company a market value of $5.5 billion. At its peak in late 2006, Citigroup stock was worth $55.70, for a market value of $277.2 billion.

Even more horrific, Citigroup lobbied for their own demise.

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