G20 May Agree On Imbalance Measures (WSJ)
The official, who is party to the discussions in Paris, said there is “almost consensus” on which indicators to use but that China still opposes some. He said China’s negotiators are resisting including current-account imbalances and the real effective exchange rate among the indicators. He also said China and several other countries that have built up large reserves are against using currency reserves to indicate imbalances.

Krawcheck Slaps Cut-Pay Garden Leave on BofA Advisers (Bloomberg)
“They’re sending the message, ‘Make no mistake, you will incur our wrath, this is not a place you want to leave,’” said Mindy Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants LLC, a Chester, New Jersey-based executive-search firm. “It’s very rare that a company would have garden-leave provisions for producers, and I think this could backfire if people view it as draconian.”

Fed Chief Says U.S. Bolstered Its Ability to Handle Failure of a Big Bank (NYT)
Ben Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee that it would be some time before all of the rules of the new law were in place but that regulators had begun to tighten risk standards and “certainly we’ve all learned lessons from the crisis.” When Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the committee, asked what those lessons were, Mr. Bernanke replied, “The importance of being very aggressive and not being willing to allow banks, you know, too much leeway, particularly when they’re inadequate in areas like risk management.”

Tim Geithner Joins NYSE Name Push (NYP)
Geithner said he “very much” agrees with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has been trying to wield his political clout to ensure that “New York” comes first in the name of the new entity that emerges from the pending $10 billion tie-up. “I’ve talked to at least 10 experts and all of them say that the NYSE is a much stronger brand than Deutsche Boerse,” Schumer told The Post.

Wall Street Pay Still Doesn’t Consider Risk, Study Finds (NYT)
Many financial firms continue doling out bonuses without considering how it affects behavior, according to a study released Thursday by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. The study found that only 37 percent of financial institutions surveyed by Deloitte had substantially incorporated risk-management concerns into their compensation decisions.

Banks Like Barclays Find Loophole On Dodd-Frank Capital Rule (WSJ)
In November, Barclays PLC quietly changed the legal classification of the U.K. bank’s main subsidiary in the U.S. so that the unit would no longer be subject to federal bank-capital requirements. Several other banks based outside the U.S. are considering similar moves, according to people familiar with the matter.

SEC Questions Mutual Funds’ Muni Prices (WSJ)
The agency’s concern is that investors in high-yield muni-bond mutual funds could be misled about the true value of their investment, according to people familiar with the matter.

Warren Buffet’s White House Words Of Wisdom (CNBC)
Buffett says he feels lucky to have been born in the United States, lucky to have found what he loves doing very early in life, and “extremely lucky in that the two most important people to me in my life, my dad and my wife … they both extended to me unconditional love. And there’s no power on earth in my view like unconditional love.”

A-Rod leaving 15 CPW, buying penthouse at The Rushmore (NYP)
No more knocking on neighbor Lloyd Blankfein’s door for a cup of sugar. Read more »

$$$ Allen Stanford Sues U.S. Prosecutors, SEC and FBI Agents [Bloomberg]

$$$ Apple to build its biggest store yet in Grand Central; David Einhorn nods approvingly. [COM via Daily Intel]

$$$ “Countrywide was one of the greatest companies in the history of this country,” Mr. Mozilo told Congressional examiners in September, more than two years after Bank of America bought the firm during the throes of the financial crisis. [Dealbook] Read more »