Citigroup

Wachovia, the fourth-largest bank in the US, has been taken over by Citigroup as part of a Government-backed rescue deal.

Bridgewater Associates has issued a severe warning to global financial institutions, predicting global credit crisis losses will hit $1.6trn.

Citigroup announced plans yesterday to extricate itself completely from new sub-prime lending in Britain, with the loss of up to 700 jobs, The Times reports.

Citigroup has announced it recorded a $9.83bn (£5bn) loss in Q4 2007, attributed to continued sub-prime related exposure.

Merrill Lynch is set to be the latest US investment bank to take on a foreign capital injection.

Citigroup has announced it will rescue its ailing $49bn Structured Investment Vehicles (SIV) range.

Citigroup will not become a big pension fund buyout player, says consultancy Punter Southall.

LENDERS ARE now offering mortgages equal to six times salary to first-time buyers desperate to get a foot on the property ladder, as house prices soar out of reach, says the Daily Telegraph .

Treasury officials yesterday left the door open for a new chancellor to change the government's widely discredited fiscal rules following Gordon Brown's expected move to Number 10, reports the Financial Times .

New Star Asset Management will this week unveil plans to return up to £350m to shareholders in a move which would see its chairman John Duffield pocket £70m, says the Daily Telegraph .