Spain’s troubled bank, Bankia, asked the government for a 19-billion euro bailout on Friday, just hours after credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Bankia and four other banks to junk status.
Three senior executives at US banking giant JPMorgan Chase are set to resign this week following a trading blunder that resulted in a shocking $2 billion loss, which could extend to $3 billion through the end of June, US media has reported.
US banking giant JPMorgan Chase is facing fierce criticism after claiming that the surprise $2 billion loss by one of its trading groups was due to sloppy strategy. A former IMF chief economist said the loss "just shows they can't manage risk."
The Spanish government has announced yet another reform of its banking sector, the fourth in as many months. This latest effort is an attempt to finally shore up losses and protect the banking system from future risks. In the future, banks will be made to keep a total of 84 billion euros in reserve under measures that are costing Madrid another four billion euros - to add to the 15 billion they have already spent trying to do the same thing.
US banking giant JPMorgan Chase lost $2 billion in six weeks from a portfolio designed to offset risks the company takes with its own assets, CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters on Thursday, adding: "There were many errors, sloppiness and bad judgment".
Credit card firms Mastercard and Visa warned banks of a possible security breach on Friday that could put the personal details of millions of credit card holders at risk. The companies insisted the problem lay with a third-party vendor.
An outgoing Goldman Sachs executive fired a vicious parting shot at his former employers, slamming the banking giant as “toxic and destructive” in a resignation letter that was published by the New York Times on Wednesday.
As countries throughout the Sahel region struggle to stave off the return of famine, we take a look at the pressures faced by families in Mauritania trying to find enough to eat. Meanwhile, cash-strapped Libya is trying to get its people to trust and invest in their banks. Finally, we meet the rising stars of Algeria's pop scene. Cameleon are still waiting to turn their online popularity into global fame.
France's largest bank, BNP Paribas, said Wednesday that its 2011 net profit fell 22% to €6.05 billion after it factored in €3.2 billion to cover its exposure to Greek debt. BNP said results were also affected by the larger eurozone debt crisis.
US President Barack Obama signed an order Monday for new sanctions on all Iranian financial institutions, including its central bank. The measure allows US institutions to freeze Iranian state assets instead of simply rejecting the funds.
