G.O.O.D

Source: The Associated Press

Customers of New York City-based Citibank have lost access to much of their account information because of a computer outage.

Many of the troubled bank’s clients haven’t been able to retrieve account details online or by telephone since Tuesday afternoon. Others can access only parts of their account profiles.

Citibank telephone representatives say they don’t know what caused the outage but technicians are working to fix it. They’ve been telling customers to call back after Wednesday morning.

A Citibank spokeswoman hasn’t replied to a phone message or an e-mail sent after business hours.

Citibank is a division of Citigroup Inc., which is struggling to survive the global financial crisis with billions of dollars in aid from the government.

Technorati Tags: banks, Citibank

Source: Reuters

Jim Rogers, one of the world’s most prominent international investors, on Thursday called most of the largest U.S. banks “totally bankrupt,” and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded.

Speaking by teleconference at the Reuters Investment Outlook 2009 Summit, the co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund, said the government’s $700 billion rescue package for the sector doesn’t address how banks manage their balance sheets, and instead rewards weaker lenders with new capital.

Dozens of banks have won infusions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program created in early October, just after the Sept 15 bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). Some of the funds are being used for acquisitions.

“Without giving specific names, most of the significant American banks, the larger banks, are bankrupt, totally bankrupt,” said Rogers, who is now a private investor.

“What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent,” he said. “What’s happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics.”  Full Story

Technorati Tags: Jim Rogers, banks, bankrupt

From the Scotsman.com

The cost of our basic groceries are shooting up dramatically at a time when soaring petrol costs are already hitting motorists in the pocket. Michael Blackley wonders whether there is any respite in sight.
AT this time of year, millions of people across the country are waiting with anticipation – or trepidation – to see what impact their annual pay review will have on them.

An employee on the average Edinburgh salary of around £30,000 may expect to see something in the region of £85 added to their monthly wage, based on last year’s average earnings rise. And even that figure may be optimistic this year given the current economic climate.

But, whatever your pay award turns out to be, give it a month or so and you’ll probably find that the extra cash hasn’t helped loosen the purse strings much, if at all.

Via the Telegraph

The US Federal Reserve is examining the Nordic bank nationalisations of the 1990s as a possible interim solution to the US financial crisis.
The Fed has been criticised for its rescue of Bear Stearns, which critics say has degenerated into a taxpayer gift to rich bankers

The Fed has been criticised for its rescue of Bear Stearns, which critics say has degenerated into a taxpayer gift to rich bankers.

A senior official at one of the Scandinavian central banks told The Daily Telegraph that Fed strategists had stepped up contacts to learn how Norway, Sweden and Finland managed their traumatic crisis from 1991 to 1993, which brought the region’s economy to its knees.

It is understood that Fed vice-chairman Don Kohn remains very concerned by the depth of the US crisis and is eyeing the Nordic approach for contingency options.

Technorati Tags: Federal Reserve, banks