American Banks Snared in Money-Laundering Crackdown  | A handful of major American banks are being investigated by federal and state authorities for failing to monitor cash transactions in and out of their branches, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess report in The New York Times. The lapse may have allowed drug dealers and terrorists to launder tainted money, officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Times.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and several other Wall Street giants are being scrutinized by regulators led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the officials told The Times. The action was said to mark the beginning of “one of the most aggressive crackdowns on money-laundering in decades, intended to send a signal to the nation's biggest banks that weak compliance is unacceptable,†The Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Sberbank of Russia Starts $5.1 Billion Share Sale  | The Russian government announced on Monday that it would sell a 7.6 percent stake in the country's largest lender, Sberbank, in a rights offering that could raise around $5.1 billion.
The move will be one of Russia's largest share sales in recent years as the government aims to reduce its stakes in a number of the country's largest companies.
Investors have long awaited the announcement of Sberbank's rights offering, which had been hampered by ongoing volatility in global financial markets and the recent depressed performance of Russian stocks.
Under the terms of the deal, the Russian central bank said it would sell up to 1.71 billion shares in Sberbank, and had set the price range between 91 rubles, or $2.99, and the firm's market price when the offering closes, according to a joint statement from Russian authorities and the bank.
DealBook '
Occupy Wall Street's Birthday Party  | A number of activities have been planned to mark the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement on Monday, with protesters looking to highlight home foreclosures and the type of speculation that caused JPMorgan Chase's multibillion-dollar trading loss, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Buffett Says Cancer Treatment Has Completed  | Warren E. Buffett told a group of newspaper executives on Friday that he was done with radiation treatments for prostate cancer, seeming eager to return to work, The A ssociated Press reports.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Nonprofit Gala Season Commences  | Vikram Pandit, John Paulson, Gary Cohn, George Soros and Steve Schwarzman are expected to attend events for a range of nonprofits they're involved with, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
A Case of Too Much Navel-Gazing?  | James Atlas writes in an op-ed piece in The New York Times: “Call it Wall Street porn. Not only do we know more than most of us wish to know about how the rich live - we even know, thanks to the deep-digging efforts of the business reporters over at Bloomberg, how much they have. But there is such a thing as knowing too much.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
Lowe's Pulls $1.8 Billion Bid for Rona  | Lowe's Companies said on Monday that it had withdrawn its $1.8 billion takeover bid for a Canadian counterpart, Rona, citing the home-improvement chain's unwillingness to hold merger talks.
DealBook '
India Backs Foreign Investment in Retail Sector  | After years of intense debate, India's government agreed to open the country's retail sector to global behemoths like Walmart and Ikea, pushing for a profound shift in India's economic and political direction, Gardiner Harris reported for The New York Times.
DealBook '
Rip Curl Receives Unsolicited Approaches  | As its rival Billabong fields private equity interest, the Australian surf wear company Rip Curl said it had “received unsolicited approaches from several international organisations,†Reuters reports. The company could be valued at about $506 million.
REUTERS
Hedge Funds Wager on a Glencore-Xstrata Deal  | With Xstrata expected to recommend Glencore's revised offer as early as this week, some hedge funds see additional profit opportunity, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Aerospace Merger Could Offer Chairman an Exit  | A tie-up between EADS and BAE could give EADS the chance to replace Arnaud Lagardere, the French media mogul who recently was named chairman, The Wall Street Journal reports.
G.E. Taps Morgan Stanley to Review Thai Bank Stake  | General Electric is considering options for its 33 percent stake in Bank of Ayudhya of Thailand, worth about $2.2 billion, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Redemption of an Exiled Broker  | Sandy Lewis, who was barred from Wall Street after pleading guilty to stock market manipulation in 1989, was later pardoned by Bill Clinton but remains in self-imposed exile, The New York Times writes. Now, from his farm in the Adirondacks, Mr. Lewis “wants to flip over Wall Street's paving stones and search for worms,†The Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Corporate Earnings Begin to Feel a Pinch  | A variety of factors are beginning to weigh on corporate earnings, which had far outpaced the broader economy's gains in the aftermath of the recession, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Deutsche Bank Begins Cutting From Corporate Finance  | Financial News reports: “Deutsche Bank is cutting a number of high-profile UK-focused bankers from its advisory business, after outlining plans last week to rationalise its corporate coverage.â€
FINANCIAL NEWS
Bonus for Citigroup's Chief Remains Unharmed  | Bloomberg News reports that the write-down Citigroup is taking on its stake in M organ Stanley Smith Barney “probably won't reduce a profit-sharing plan's award for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit that could total $24 million. That's because the plan doesn't count losses at Citi Holdings, the division of unwanted assets that includes the Smith Barney brokerage, a regulatory filing shows.â€
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Morgan Stanley Plans Deeper Cuts to Fixed Income  | The firm plans to reduce the risk-weighted assets in its fixed-income business by at least 35 percent from the third quarter of 2011 through the end of 2014, a deeper cut than previously forecast, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Citigroup Executive in Asia Resigns  | David Khoo, who was Citigroup's head of financial institutions f or Southeast Asia, has left the company less than two years after joining, Reuters reports, citing an unidentified person with direct knowledge of the matter.
REUTERS
Credit Suisse to Hand Over More Data About Clients  | Credit Suisse plans to give more information to United States authorities looking into whether the Swiss bank helped clients avoid taxes, Bloomberg news reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
UBS Expects Money to Leave Swiss Banks  | UBS estimated that European clients of Swiss banks would withdraw “hundreds of billions of francs†as authorities crack down on tax evasion, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
A New Type of Master Limited Partnerships  | The Wall Street Journal reports: “Private-equity firms, eager to offload assets, are turning mountains of sand, gas stations and coal mines into a special type of security that offers investors annual yields as high as 19% for years to come.â€
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Carlyle to Buy Landmark Aviation  | The Carlyle Group previously owned Landmark Aviation and is buying it again from GTCR and Platform Partners, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Essdar Capital in Management Buyout  | Essdar Capital, a specialized financial firm backed by Abu Dhabi royals, said it was bought out by management, Reute rs reports.
REUTERS
Buyout Firm Looks to Tap Demand for Asia  | Affinity Equity Partners is looking to raise as much as $3.5 billion for a new fund focused on Asia, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people with direct knowledge of the plan.
REUTERS
Founder of Private Equity Firm Commits Suicide  | Robert B. McKeon, the founder and chairman of Veritas Capital, took his own life earlier this month, Reuters reports. His firm said in a statement that Mr. McKeon “was an extraordinary person, a consummate professional, and a cherished friend and colleague.â€
REUTERS
Starboard Value Said to Target Office Depot  | Starboard Value, the activist investor, is expected to reveal on Monday that it has taken a 13.3 percent stake in Office Depot with plans to push for changes at the company, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Lasair Capital to Return Money to Clients  | Lasair Capital, a hedge fund firm backed by General Electric that is owned by women, plans to wind down its portfolios and return about $250 million to clients, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Seeking Advice From Hedge Funds  | Pensions & Investments reports: “Hedge fund managers are becoming trusted advisers to their clients, adding the role of portfolio consultant to their investment duties for large and small investors.â€
PENSIONS & INVESTMENTS
Trader Starts a Commodities Hedge Fund  | Paul Crone, who was the head trader at Touradji Capital Management before leaving the firm in March, has started Citrine Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on metals, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Clouds Hang Over the I.P.O. Market  | Financial News reports: “Equity capital markets bankers still cannot bring themselves to be enthusiastic about the future, despite multi-billion-dollar equity deals bursting onto the market last week.â€
Russian Health Care Company Plans I.P.O. Â |Â MD Medical Group is looking to go public in London in October, with plans to raise about $150 million, Reuters reports.
REUTERS Â |Â FINANCIAL TIMES
Zynga Fights Back Against Electronic Arts  | Zynga filed a countersuit against Electronic Arts on Friday, accusing the rival games maker of engaging in anticompetitive practices, The Associated Press reports.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Betting on a Class of Dropouts  | The Silicon Valley investor Peter H. Thiel is behind a program that offers $50,000 a year for two years to people under the age of 20 to pursue their dreams outside of college. “You won't be shocked to learn that it is harder to get a Thiel Fellowship than it is to get into Princeton,†The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Winklevoss Twins Invest in a Social Site  | Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, whose fight with Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook made them famous, have invested $1 million into SumZero, a social network for professional investors co-founded by their fellow Harvard alumnus Divya Narendra, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
TV Streaming Service Walks a Fine Legal Line  | Aereo, whi ch pick up broadcast channels and streams them online for subscribers, is trying to position itself for a television business model of the future, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Silicon Valley's Covert Riches  | Some in tech circles take pains to conceal their true wealth, writes Nick Bilton on the Bits blog.
NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Twitter Hands Over User's Messages  | Twitter on Friday surrendered a printed stack of messages written by a user, after fighting a subpoena issued in January, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Ex-UBS Trader Is Accused of Gambling in a Big Loss  | In an opening statement, prosecutors in London said that Kweku Adoboli doctored documents, invented profits and fabricated clients to cover up trading that led to a $2.3 billion loss at the Swiss bank.
DealBook '
New York Stock Exchange Settles Case Over Early Data Access  | The New York Stock Exchange agreed to adopt new internal controls and pay a $5 million penalty to settle accusations that its trading data gave select clients a split-second advantage.
DealBook '
Debt Collecto rs Find an Ally in Prosecutors  | Debt-collection companies have been allowed to use letterhead from the local district attorney's office in their efforts to collect on bad checks, giving their ultimatums the imprimatur of law enforcement, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
A Look at an Insider Trading Case in Japan  | An unpublished report commissioned by Daiwa Securities in response to a government investigation “provides excerpts of conversations in which several staffers allegedly gave customers suggestions or bits of nonpublic information related to the Nippon Sheet Glass offering,†The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
How Much Does the Fed's Plan Really Help Main Street? Â |Â In theory, the Fed's bond purchases should drive down borrowing costs for companies and consumers. But many rates, like those for credit card loans, remain stubbornly high.
DealBook '
Fed Makes Unemployment Its Focus  | Gone is the era when the central bank focused mainly on inflation, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Fed Action Seen Having a Modest Effect on Home Sales  | Some real estate economists said the Federal Reserve's asset-purchase program could encourage a recovery at the margins of the housing market, but that lower mortgage rates would not be enough to spur a broader recovery, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
A Housing Horror Story  | Gretchen Morgenson writes in her column in The New York Times about a woman who tried unsuccessfully to get a loan modification on her Florida property. Ms. Morgenson writes, “Chaos and conflict rein over many mortgage workouts. Until that changes, housing will struggle.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
European Bank Overhaul Meets Resistance  | Finance ministers from major European nations raised objections on Saturday to a plan by the European Union to overhaul bank supervision and help troubled lenders, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
S.E.C. Keeps a Close Eye on Exchanges  | The Wall Street Journal reports: “Ex changes are bracing for greater scrutiny from the top U.S. securities regulator as it clamps down on their efforts to bolster profits by pumping out products that increasingly have catered to high-speed traders.â€
WALL STREET JOURNAL
