I.M.F. Reports Cyberattack Led to ‘Very Major Breach’ (NYT)
Several senior officials with knowledge of the attack said it was both sophisticated and serious. “This was a very major breach,” said one official, who said that it had occurred over the last several months, even before Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician who ran the fund, was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a chamber maid in a New York hotel.
IMF Mum On Details Of Cyber Attack (WSJ)
“We had an incident,” said IMF spokesman David Hawley. “We’re investigating it and the fund is completely functional.”
Roubini: ‘Perfect Storm’ May Threaten Global Economy (Bloomberg)
There’s a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are “anemic but OK” global growth or an “optimistic” scenario in which the expansion improves. “There are already elements of fragility,” he said. “Everybody’s kicking the can down the road of too much public and private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier, and bigger on debt, and all these problems may come to a head by 2013 at the latest.”
US banks to cut Treasuries use (FT)
Some of Wall Street’s biggest banks are preparing to cut their use of US Treasuries in August as a precaution against any turbulence that could follow if warring Republicans and Democrats fail to increase soon the US debt ceiling, a senior bank chief said …Investors worldwide own large amounts of the $9,700bn of debt that has been sold by the US government as part of their portfolios. But nearly 40 per cent of the existing US Treasury debt – about $4,000bn – is used to back deals in the repurchase, futures and swaps markets, say JPMorgan Chase estimates.
Banks battle over US tax law (FT)
Banks and foreign governments are mounting an increasingly desperate push against a sweeping US tax law that will force overseas institutions to report their American clients to the Internal Revenue Service.
CalPERS has been automatically deleting emails after 60 days (LA Times)
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has begun automatically deleting any emails older than 60 days, raising concerns among watchdog groups that the giant pension fund could be destroying evidence of misdeeds. CalPERS has been under state and federal investigation over allegations that former executives and board members improperly influenced the fund’s investment decisions and strong-armed a medical benefits vendor to retain a former board member as a consultant, according to an internal review ordered by the fund and released in April.
Israeli Economist Enters Race to Lead I.M.F. (NYT)
With probably the most impressive résumé and the least chance of succeeding, Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel, has added his name to the list of candidates for managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
In Greece, Some See a New Lehman (NYT)
Bond traders and officials at the European Central Bank have been unified in their warnings that a restructuring of Greece’s debt would set off an investor panic similar to the one that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Continue reading »
