Hack At Citi Probed; Bank Denies Breach (WSJ)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a computer-security breach targeting Citigroup Inc. that resulted in a theft of tens of millions of dollars by computer hackers who appear linked to a Russian cyber gang, according to government officials.

Collapsed Lehman pays out big bonuses (FT)
A judge overseeing Lehman’s US bankruptcy in New York last week approved an extra $50m (€35m) in bonus pay-outs to some 230 derivatives traders working to unwind the dead bank’s $10bn portfolio. The pay-outs come as bankers in the US and Europe face public anger over probable multimillion-dollar bonuses at the end of this year and, in Britain and France, additional taxes on the pay-outs.

Dubai World to Present ‘Standstill’ in Early January (Bloomberg)
Dubai World will present a standstill offer to banks in early January as the state-owned company aims to restructure $22 billion of debt, said three bankers who attended a presentation on the matter yesterday.

Banks With Political Ties Got Bailouts, Study Shows (Reuters)
GET OUT OF TOWN.

Bruce Willis Takes 3.3% Stake in French Vodka Firm (CNBC)
Willis, already the advertising face of Belvedere’s Sobieski vodka brand, will take a 3.3 percent stake in the French company to help drive its marketing strategy. Belvedere’s statement on Tuesday lifted the company’s shares as much as 6.6 percent to 34 euros in early trading, giving it a market value of around 85 million euros ($122 million).

Citi Reaches Deal To Pay Back TARP (WSJ)
Vikram Pandit to colleagues: “The TARP program was designed to provide assistance until banks were in a position to repay it prudently. We are pleased to be able to repay the U.S. government’s trust preferred securities and to terminate the loss-sharing agreement. We owe the American taxpayers a debt of gratitude and recognize our obligation to support the economic recovery through lending and assistance to homeowners and other borrowers in need…That we are here is a testament to your hard work and accomplishments in getting our house in order.”

Larry Summers: The Recession Is Over (AP)
And apparently “everyone agrees” with him.

Morgan Stanley Hires Greg Flemming (MarketWatch)
Fleming will join MS in February as president of Morgan Stanley investment management, including merchant banking.

Accenture Boots Tiger Off Its Team (WSJ)
“After careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising,” Accenture said in a statement on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi Gives Dubai $10 Billion to Help Pay Debt (NYT)
In a statement on Monday, the Dubai government said: “The government of Abu Dhabi has agreed to fund $10 billion to the Dubai Financial Support Fund that will be used to satisfy a series of upcoming obligations on Dubai World. As a first action for the new fund, the Government of Dubai has authorized $4.1 billion to be used to pay the sukuk obligations that are due today.” The statement added that the remaining funds would also provide “for interest expenses and company working capital through April 30, 2010 — conditioned on the company being successful in negotiating a standstill as previously announced.”

Survey: Hedge Fund Compensation On The Rise (FINalternatiaves)
“What investors don’t expect is large bonuses to be paid out when funds do not perform. We saw some of that this year, likely due to multi-year bonus guarantees.”

Ask Ashley: Dupre Gets Life Advice Column With Post (NYP)
The noted hooker fucker’s special lady friend wants to help solve your problems.

Galleon Asia Employees Said to Hold Discussions With Fortress (Bloomberg)
Galleon Group LLC’s Singapore-based staff have held discussions about the possibility of joining Fortress Investment Group LLC following the arrest of their commander in chief.

Governor Paterson Goes To Wall Street With Words Of Thanks (NYT)
Shockingly, Citi chairman Dick Parsons called the gov’s speech, ‘terrific’: “Some people think that if you deny the bonuses, that the money’s coming back to the American taxpayers,” Mr. Paterson said. “It’s actually the other way around: If you deny the bonuses, the money stays in the firms. It’s when you pay out the bonuses that you start to get the huge tax collections that New Yorkers see.”

AIG Units Omit Name And They Excel (NYT)
Ixnay on the iganticgay uckfay upay: “Just months after dropping the telltale “A.I.G.” from its sales brochures, the company has leapfrogged its competitors and reclaimed a title it held for many years before its bailout — the top seller of fixed annuities to bank customers. People buying the annuities in bank branches may be surprised to know they are signing up with A.I.G. The contracts are being offered under the names of two subsidiaries, Western National Life and First SunAmerica. Until last June, they carried the name of A.I.G. Annuity.”

Barclays Denis ‘Secret’ Gains In Lehman Deal (Reuters)
And any insinuation to the contrary is downright insulting. In court papers filed on Wednesday and earlier this week, Barclays said creditors had been made “fully aware” of how the deal was structured before it closed and that a gain Barclays recorded after the sale was not the result of “secret” negotiations to transfer undisclosed assets. “There was nothing ‘secret’ about this contract or its terms,” Barclays said in the court papers.

Ex-Bear fund chiefs face SEC civil case (FT)
Edward Little, an attorney for Ralph Cioffi, is pretty sure the regulators will be sorry: ”We had met with SEC and urged them to drop the case. They’ve not yet responded definitively but we don’t expect that they will. We are not interested in settling and we will go to trial,” Mr Little told the Financial Times.

Jeff Immelt: Era Of Meanness, Greed Drawing to End (Reuters)
Also, sensitivity is in: “I decided that I needed to be a better listener coming out of the crisis,” Immelt said. “I felt like I should have done more to anticipate the radical changes that occurred.”

Geithner Said to Be Seeking $700 Billion TARP Extension Until Next October (Bloomberg)
“There has rarely been a less loved or more necessary emergency program than TARP,” President Obama said yesterday in a speech in Washington. “I’m asking my Treasury secretary to continue mobilizing the remaining TARP funds to facilitate lending to small businesses.”

Year-End Audit Finds TARP Program Effective (NYT)
“Although the government’s response to the crisis was at first haphazard and uncertain, it eventually proved decisive enough to stop the panic and restore market confidence.”

Baroness Vadera: ‘I still have nightmares about the financial crisis (Telegraph)
The former Government minister and one of the architects of the British efforts to rescue the financial system, told a high-level business conference in Sussex: “I don’t think we are through it yet… an IMF study showed at the middle of this year that banks had only declared half their losses on their books: we have a long way to go.”

Live-Blog: UK Pre-Budget Report (The Source)
Sorry, chippies: “Chancellor Darling has imposed a 50% charge on bankers’ bonuses over £25,000. And if you’re trying to dodge it, you’ll have to be quick. It’s coming into force today. It’ll apply to all U.K. banks and building societies (mutual lenders) and includes foreign branches and subsidiaries. Oh, and it’s paid by employers. Once the banker gets it, there’s still income tax to be paid on top.”

Paulson And Co. Buying Stocks (NYT)
“Today our net long exposure is perhaps the highest it has ever been in our portfolio,” Paulson said during a luncheon presentation at the Japan Society.

U.S. SEC Sues to Freeze Assets Of ‘Ponzi Scheme’ (Reuters)
You’re on notice, Rockford Funding Group.

Galleon Probe Stymied by Lack of Follow-Up, Ex-FBI Agent Says (Bloomberg)
Clumsy (or genius?) employees also didn’t help things: To monitor Roomy Khan, Intel set up a hidden video camera and obtained phone records that showed she faxed information to Galleon in New York, Atkinson said. The camera was ripped out by an employee, not Khan, after it was discovered, he said. “We would have liked to have gathered information for a longer time, but we weren’t able to do that,” he said. “That was a minor setback.”

Feinberg Said To Lift $500,000 Salary Limit For AIG Executives (Bloomberg)
At least for the five senior executives who were threatening to leave. Now they can stay, and continue doing a bang-up job running the best company in the world.

Bank of America Executive Under Scrutiny (NYT)
Andrew Cuomo has “concerns” about testimony given last month by Gregory Curl, the bank’s chief risk officer (and possible candidate for the CEO gig).

Morgan Stanley Shuffles Executives (WSJ)
CFO Colm Kelleher and veteran banker Paul Taubman will run Morgan’s institutional securities unit.

SEC Probing High Frequency Trading Strategies (Reuters)
And they’d like some public input, so don’t be shy.

Details Of RBS Pain Revealed By Treasury (CityAM)
Financial services secretary to the Treasury Paul Myners said the agreement provided a “much-improved” position for the taxpayer. “RBS will bear a much greater share of the burden, with the first loss increasing by £18bn. The bank will also pay the full operational costs of the Asset Protection Agency,” Lord Myners said.

Probe Extended In U.S. Insider Trade Case (Reuters)
A document filed in Manhattan federal court said prosecutors and defense lawyers “have consented that the continuance may be granted for the purpose of receiving and reviewing certain pre-indictment discovery and discussing dispositions in the case.”

Bailout Refund Is All About Pay, Pay, Pay (NYT)
Andrew Ross Sorkin has some reservations re: the BAC TARP repayment.

Treasury Said to Link Citigroup Sale to TARP Payback (Bloomberg)
“This should be well thought-out for the benefit of all constituencies, and in this case that includes shareholders, the government and the taxpayers,” said Dennis Santiago. “Just because Bank of America goes doesn’t mean you have to rush Citigroup.”

Hedge funds alarmed at regulatory probes (FT)
“Given recent events and upcoming legislative changes, it’s very likely managers are going to face audits, due diligence questions and investigations, which will directly look for fraudulent or corrupt activities,” says Ellen Schubert, chief adviser to Deloitte’s asset management services group. “There is no bigger game-changer for a hedge fund than fraud. Firms that took years to build, have been wiped out in days.”

Scholarly Investments (NYT)
“If you’re at a hedge fund, [charter schools] are definitely the hot cause,” said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.

The $700 Billion Man (Washington Post)
“Come on, you bums,” Neel Kashkari calls to his dogs, two giant Newfoundlands. “Boys, let’s go.”

Estimated TARP Cost Is Cut By $200 Billion (WSJ)
The Treasury now estimates that over the next 10 years TARP will cost $141 billion at most, down from the $341 billion the White House projected in August. The reduction stems in large part from faster-than-expected repayments by some of the nation’s largest banks, as well as less spending on programs to help shore up the financial sector.

John Paulson Returns To Earth (BW)
BusinessWeek asks: “Is John Paulson a one-megahit wonder?”

Merrill Bull Returns To Business Cards (WSJ)
Former Merrill Lynch investment bankers “won a major concession from Bank of America, as it agreed to reverse a decision preventing them from using the old Merrill bull logo on their business cards.” Losing the bull, which had been a part of Merrill Lynch’s marketing since 1974, was a blow to many Merrill Lynch staff, with one quoted at the time as saying, “Merrill without the bull is like Superman without a cape.” (photo-credit: efinancialnews.com).

Goldman bonuses to be in shares amid effort to quell public anger (FT)
They’re mulling over the idea but if any haters like it, please speak up: “Senior executives including Mr Blankfein could be awarded all their annual bonus in company stock, people familiar with the bank’s thinking said. Many of its 31,700 staff may also receive more of their pay in shares.”

Rajaratnam Investigated A Decade Ago (WSJ)
Prosecutors, however, were unable to prove their suspicions, which centered on information stolen from chip maker Intel Corp., according to legal filings.

BofA Prices Securities as TARP Exit Starts (WSJ)
The board will meet Tuesday to discuss CEO candidates.

Citigroup Said to Need Treasury Stake Sale Before TARP Payment (Bloomberg)
“The ball is in the government’s court,” said Chris Kotowski, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, who has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s shares. “It’s not Citibank’s decision to sell them or not sell them.”

GM to Reassign Lutz, Others in Management Shakeup (WSJ)
“[Whitacre] really really strongly thinks we need to get younger people in key personnel positions,” a person briefed on the plans said. And then maybe someone will buy their cars?

SAC Capital Opens New Office (Reuters)
Two portfolio managers will be working out of Singapore.

Switzerland’s 300 Richest Lose $10 Billion in 2009 (AP)
Luckily they still have $449 billion to put toward Toblerone bars, according to a report published today.

Goldman Takes Offensive On Pay (WSJ)
Goldman has been holding private discussions with shareholders for weeks on the subject of compensation, in order to indicate that they care what investors think and ward off a backlash before paying out huge ass bonuses. Here’s a 14 page presentation re: making it rain on employee’s faces.

Barclays Said to Plan Salary Increases, Lower Bonuses (Bloomberg)
Apparently the change will mainly affect junior and mid-level employees.

RBS board may quit if £1.5bn bonus plan is vetoed (Independent)
Let the chippies pay people whatever they want or they’re walking, maybe.

Senator Sanders Moves to Hold Up Bernanke Confirmation (NYT)
“In this country, there is profound disgust at what happened on Wall Street,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview. “People want a new direction and people are asking, where was the Fed? How did the Fed allow this to happen, when one of their mandates is to oversee the safety and soundness of the banking system?”

US Seeks Client Names Of Stanford (Reuters)
The Justice Department asked a court on Wednesday for permission to seek the identity of American clients of the Texas financier R. Allen Stanford who may have been hiding their assets with his firm to evade taxes.

Tiger’s New Prenup (TDB)
A lawyer familiar with the hastily conducted negotiations of the past 72 hours said that as of Wednesday evening Elin has been offered a $5 million payment immediately if she agrees to stay—and her prenuptial agreement is being revised to give her up to an additional $55 million.

Comcast, GE Strike Deal; Vivendi to Sell NBC Stake (WSJ)
Comcast now owns the majority of Maria’s ass.

BofA Breakup Proposal Is New Snag in CEO Hunt (WSJ)
Not only does no one want to be CEO, but people are comfortable enough comparing the bank to Citi to the board’s face: “At least two candidates for the top job at Bank of America Corp. told directors that the giant bank should consider breaking itself up, but board members in charge of the CEO search have rejected the idea at least for now, according to people familiar with the situation.”

UK Treasury Take Control of RBS Bonus Pool (Reuters)
The Treasury has demanded the right to control the “quantum and shape” of 2009 bonuses at the bank as worry over the public backlash surrounding bonus pay for bankers continues.

Hedge Fund Veterans Start Anew (WSJ)
Four founding partners of former Citigroup hedge fund Old Lane, including its ex-chief executive Guru Ramakrishnan and Jonathan Barton, Jeff Moskowitz and Ajay Khanna, have launched the Meru Capital Group. Will Pandito join the fun or miss out on good times with the old gang?

Significant Risks To US Bank Stocks, Says Citi (NYT)
“Since there is above-average risk, we would remain very selective focusing on banks that have strong capital positions, while avoiding banks with the combination of relatively high commercial real estate exposure and questionable capital strength,” Citigroup said in a note.

SEC Steps Up Insider Trading Probe (WSJ)
They’re really mean it this time: The organization has sent at least three dozen subpoenas to hedge funds and brokerages within the past month in an expanding sweep of potential insider-trading violations.

Daughter Of Resigned GM CEO Attacks New GM CEO On Facebook (Jalopnik)
Sarah Henderson: “HE FUCKING GOT ASKED TO STEP DOWN ALL OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. IM FRITZ’S FUCKING DAUGHTER, AND HE DID NOT FUCKING RESIGN. WHITACRE IS A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIFT, WHO CARES ABOUT HIMSELF AND NOT THE FUCKING COMPANY. HAVE FUN WITH GM, I HOPE TO NEVER BUY FROM THIS GOD FORESAKEN COMPANY EVERY AGAIN. FUCK ALL OF YOU.”

An Open Letter To Tiger Woods, by Larry Kudlow (CNBC)
So this happened: Fess up, Tiger. If you don’t, the tabloids are gonna kill ya. By now everyone knows that something happened to you and your car outside your Florida mansion.

Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public (Bloomberg)
Alice Schroeder on Goldman employees packing heat: “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.

Somali sea gangs lure investors at pirate lair (Reuters)
“Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 ‘maritime companies’ and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,” a wealthy former pirate named Mohammed said. “The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials … we’ve made piracy a community activity.”

Arrest Imminent In Florida Ponzi Case (Reuters)
Scott Rothstein is expected to be cuffed today.

WaMu The Bank Is Gone, But The Parent Fights On (WSJ)
A federal bankruptcy judge is expected to rule soon on who owns about $4 billion claimed by both J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which bought the doomed financial institution from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Seattle thrift’s holding company, Washington Mutual Inc.

SEC Watchdog Eyes Insider Trading Probe (NYT)
Inspector General David Kotz’s office said it is looking at a complaint that SEC staff had access to specific evidence that insider trading had occurred prior to staff closing the investigation, and whether the enforcement staff “committed acts of negligence.”

Bernanke Starts Fed Debate Early (WSJ)
Ben Bernanke would prefer the Federal Reserve not be stripped of its power. Senator Bernie Sanders would prefer the Beard be stripped of his job: “If he’s the smartest guy in the world, why didn’t he do anything to prevent us from sinking into this disaster that Wall Street caused and which he was a part of?” Mr. Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” Mr. Sanders was referring to Foreign Policy Magazine’s list of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers,” which ranked Mr. Bernanke as No. 1. While Mr. Bernanke is expected to win confirmation, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said Sunday that he would oppose him.

UBS Threatens To Move HQ From Switzerland (Reuters)
If Switzerland dares to lay too many regulations on the tax evaders’ asses, they are so out of there, CEO Oswald Gruebel apparently threatened over the weekend.

U.A.E. Central Bank Says It `Stands Behind’ Lenders, Offers Loan Facility (Bloomberg)
“This is a timely pre-emptive move from the central bank,” Ahmet Akarli, an economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London, said in a note. The central bank is “ensuring that local markets are operational” and banks “have access to ample liquidity.”

Bank of America Trims Salary for 2 Top Executives (WSJ)
Bank of America said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has cut the salaries of Chief Financial Officer Joe Price, along with it mortgage unit president Barbara Desoer, from $800,000 per year to $500,000.

Ari Kiev, a Psychiatrist, Dies at 75 (NYT)
The former SAC Capital shrink in-residence— he left SAC in January to start Kiev Consulting— passed away on November 18 due to complications related to cancer.

U.A.E. Blocks Sunday Times Over Coverage of Dubai Debt Crisis (Bloomberg)
The Sunday Times is awaiting further instructions from the authorities, the office said in a statement. Meanwhile, Vikram would like to know if he can arrange to block the sale of any New York-based papers talking smack about Citi.

Forget Fleece? Wool Makes A Comeback (WSJ)
Sacrilege.

Thirty financial groups on systemic risk list (FT)
Thirty global financial institutions make up a list that regulators are earmarking for “cross-border supervision exercises.” They are:

* Bank of America Merrill Lynch

* Citigroup

* Goldman Sachs

* JPMorgan Chase

* Morgan Stanley

* Royal Bank of Canada

* Barclays

* HSBC

* Royal Bank of Scotland

AIG CEO Signs Non-Compete Deal (WSJ)
After the little boardroom outburst a couple weeks ago, and the threat to quit, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche promised his flock he’d never leave them. Now that they have it signed and in writing (and they approved his pay), everyone believes him. Benmosche “is committed to leading this company as CEO until the job is done,” AIG Chairman Harvey Golub said in an interview following a board meeting on Tuesday. “The board is very satisfied that the commitment is real and heartfelt.”

UBS, Ernst & Young Face Luxembourg Test Cases Over Madoff Funds (Bloomberg)
Private and institutional investors who lost money through Access International Advisors LLC’s LuxAlpha Sicav-American Selection are suing UBS and Ernst & Young for “seriously neglecting” their supervisory duties of the fund. A Luxembourg court will decide in hearings starting today whether investors have the right to bring direct claims against the fund’s custodian and auditor.

IMF Chief: Half Of Banks’ Losses May Be Unknown (Reuters)
“There are still some important losses that have not been unveiled. It’s possible that 50 percent (of bank losses) are still hidden in their balance sheets. The proportion is greater in Europe than in the United States,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said.

Hedge Funds Set For Rebound to Pre-Crisis Level?
Morgan Stanley says yes.

Rajaratnam’s Brother Drew Scrutiny (WSJ)
Both Rajaratnma’s brothers have been investigated for insider trading. No big deal.

AIG’s Rescue Bedevils U.S. (WSJ)
Some fed officials want the Pay Czar to ease up on comp restrictions. “AIG is the best example of why the government should never get itself in the position of even having to make these tradeoffs,” said Anil Kashyap, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “It’s why you don’t want the government involved in the private sector in the first place.”

Fed Said to Ask Stress-Tested Banks to Submit Plans on TARP (Bloomberg)
“It would send a terrific message to the market if there was a plan and a timetable for at least the top banks in TARP to pay the money back,” said Joel Conn, president of Lakeshore Capital Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama, which owns stock in PNC Financial Services Group Inc. “It would signify they are good enough to stand on their own.”

The Gold Man Of Goldman (Business Today)
If Lloyd Blankfein could change one thing about his company it would be for his employees to take more time off, or so he told a bunch of Princeton students.

Start Date Is Critical in Ponzi Plan (NYT)
Does anyone know when Madoff made the switch from ‘legit’ biz to not so much? Andy? Mark?

Bank Bailed Out RBS and HBOS (FT)
Breaking: The British banks might have gone under. The Bank of England extended secret emergency financing to Royal Bank of Scotland and to what was then HBOS during the banking panic last October, “indicating the two banks were even closer to collapse than had been thought.”

Mad Rush As Gold Bugs Get The Boot (WSJ)
HSBC has told retail clients to remove their small holdings from its fortress beneath its tower on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. The bank has decided retail customers aren’t profitable enough and is demanding those clients remove their gold to make room for more lucrative institutional customers.

Why Did Lloyd Blankfein Apologize? (NYT)
Goldman explains: “Lloyd has expressed regret…that the financial services industry collectively neglected to raise enough questions about whether some of the trends and practices that became commonplace really served the public’s long-term interests. In particular, the industry let the growth and complexity in some new instruments outstrip their economic and social utility as well as the operational capacity to manage them.”

Jamie Dimon Seen As Good Fit For Treasury (NYP)
According to unnamed sources, JD’s name has continued to come up among policymakers as a replacement for Tim Geithner. And guess who else would support this move? “It is critical to the standing of the United States in the global financial economy to have a Treasury secretary who has the full support of the president and Congress; a person who has earned respect on their own as a result of hard-won battles in finance to represent this nation,” said Dick Bove, who this week will publish a report on Dimon. “That is not Timothy Geithner. It is Jamie Dimon.”

BofA May Name Stopgap Chief If Board Needs More Time for Search (Bloomberg)
Surprise! The Bank of America board it still yet to find someone willing to take this dream gig. They’re now giving themselves through 2010 to find a replacement.

Show Me The Money (NYM)
Whether he stays or leaves, Benmosche understood that he had lost control. “It’s Feinberg’s company. That’s what he learned,” one director in the board meeting later told me. “We all thought there was an ability to run this company. We were wrong.”

Goldman Sachs’s Non-Apology (NYT)
So, here’s a thought: “Goldman should make a multibillion-dollar gift to the federal Bureau of the Public Debt, which accepts tax-deductible donations to reduce the national debt. The donation can come from the bonuses; that way, it would not harm shareholders, because they only get their cut after the bonuses are paid. Goldman’s tax savings from the donation could help finance the small-business initiative.”

Goldman Holders Miffed At Bonuses (WSJ)
Squid on Squid violence: “Some of the largest shareholders in Goldman Sachs have urged the Wall Street firm to reduce the size of its bonus pool, arguing that it should pass along more of its blockbuster earnings to investors, according to people familiar with the situation. Some major Goldman shareholders also are concerned about a little-noticed change in the company’s financial statements that increased the firm’s total head count by adding temporary employees and consultants. The change reduced per-employee compensation, making it look like Goldman employees earn less than they actually do.”

Harvard Poker Pro Says Texas Hold ‘Em Can Teach Traders to Fold (Bloomberg)
“Someone who has made a successful living as a poker player for a few years would more likely be a good trader than someone who hasn’t,” said Aaron Brown, a 53-year-old former poker pro who is now a risk manager at AQR.

Lampert’s Sears Narrows Its Loss as Gap’s Profit Increases 25% (NYT)
This calls for a pizza party, on Eddie.

SEC Told to Improve Ways It Chooses Probe Targets (AP)
A report released by the office of Inspector General David Kotz proposes new requirements that the SEC’s inspections office examine databases and documents related to investment advisers that may be inspected.

GM’s Chairman Seeks Focus on Quality (WSJ)
Edward Whitacre wants to know why people think GM cars suck.

Oregon Democrat DeFazio Calls for Geithner’s Resignation (Real Time Economics)
“I just do not feel that his orientation is other than Wall Street, and has not been other than Wall Street, and will not be other than Wall Street. And quite frankly all the gambling on Wall Street is doing nothing to put people back to work in America and rebuild our economy.”

A Hedge Fund King Comes Under Siege (WSJ)
Ken Griffin is ready to move on from last year, and would like you to move on and invest with him. If you’re nervous about the losses, take heart: “If there were a repeat of 2008’s market turmoil, Mr. Griffin says, his funds would lose less than 20% rather than 55%. Citadel’s biggest hedge fund has rebounded 58% this year through mid-November. And recently, Mr. Griffin has resumed talking about an initial public offering for Citadel as early as next year.”

Whitney Says Goldman Has Lost ‘Talent’ (Bloomberg)
Not just a little talent but a “tremendous amount of talent,” as a result of execs leaving to start hedge funds, apparently.

New Link In Insider Trading Case (WSJ)
Gary Rosenbach, a Galleon senior partner who left the hedge fund “due to family health reasons” earlier this year.

Elizabeth Warren: Winning Means You Won’t Sell It If You Can’t Explain It (Bloomberg)
“We need a new model: If you can’t explain it, you can’t sell it,” said Warren.

Goldman Was Exposed to AIG Losses: Government Report (NYT)
Surprise! If AIG had collapsed, it would have made it difficult for Goldman to liquidate its trading positions with AIG, even at discounts, the report said. It also would have put pressure on other counterparties that “might have made it difficult for Goldman Sachs to collect on the credit protection it had purchased against an AIG default.” A Goldman spokesman called the risks discussed in the report a “moot point.”

Citi Boosts Base Salaries Of Some Senior Employees (Reuters)
CFO John Gerspach’s annual base salary will increase to $500,000 effective November 1 from $400,000 prior to November, while James Forese is receiving $475,000, compared with $225,000. Gerspach is also receiving $2.92 million of stock salary for 2009, while Forese will get $5.4 million. And a sad trombone for Vikram, who will make $1 for the year, with no stock salary.

Blankfein Apologizes for Goldman Sachs Role in Crisis (Bloomberg)
In case you missed it, Blankfein and Co. are kinda sorry about some stuff they got peer-pressured into going along with. Also, fuck the haters: The firm is “very concerned” about the criticism because “our reputation is very important to us,” said Blankfein. “I don’t love it, we kind of sigh,” he said of the criticism. Instead of responding directly to critics, the company instead had tried provide “the kind of constructive suggestions that people would think a Goldman Sachs would be able to come up with.”

Fearing IRS, 14,700 Disclose Disclosed Offshore Accounts (NYT)
Great news for Tim Geithner: “We are talking about billions of dollars coming into the U.S. Treasury,” Douglas H. Shulman, the I.R.S. commissioner, said Tuesday.

UBS Outlines Path To Profit (WSJ)
“We are on track, we have stabilized UBS’s financial condition but we still have some serious topics to address,” Mr. Grübel told investors. First order of business— we’re going to have to come up with some new and inventive tax evasion strategies. The IRS seems to be on to us.

It’s the Juggernaut, Bitch! (Bloomberg)
Origins of nicknames: “People who know [new head of the Citadel investment banking unit] Patrik Edsparr describe him as outspoken, with a forceful personality. He earned the nickname “juggernaut” during his first job at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., where one of his tasks in the research unit was to collect daily price data from senior traders, one of the people said. Most of his predecessors failed because they were too intimidated to interrupt the traders, who would shout at them. Edsparr would stand behind them, often for up to two hours, until they gave him the data.

Soros Fund Management Holdings Increase (Reuters)
$6.2 billion, up $2 billion, after taking a stake in Ford.

America’s Newest Land Baron: FDIC (WSJ)
The current backlog of property stuck on the agency’s books, with an appraised value of $1.8 billion, ranges from an $18,700 clapboard home with stained carpets in Birmingham, Ala., to a $1.7 million mountainside lodge with a heated driveway in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Facebook Verb Named English Word of the Year (Reuters)
Don’t want to live in a world where ‘unfriend’ is recognized as a real verb? Then you’re gonna need to kill yourself now.

Paul Allen Diagnosed With Lymphoma (NYT)
“This is tough news for Paul and the family,” wrote Allen’s sister Jody. “Paul is feeling O.K. and remains upbeat. He continues to work and he has no plans to change his role at Vulcan. His health comes first, though, and we’ll be sure that nothing intrudes on that.”

Audit Faults New York Fed in A.I.G. Bailout (NYT)
The Fed “refused to use its considerable leverage,” Neil M. Barofsky wrote in a report to be officially released on Tuesday, examining the much-criticized decision to make A.I.G.’s trading partners whole when people and businesses were taking painful losses in the financial markets.

Bank of America Hits Pay Snag In CEO Hunt (WSJ)
The BAC board has identified another reason no one wants to take over for Ken Lewis (i addition to a lack of interest in running a hellhole) and it starts with a ‘K’ ends with a ‘en Feinberg.’

UBS’s Debt Trading May Be Key for Profit Revival (UBS)
“I’d like to see us put more risk on the table and actually trade a bit harder,” said CFO John Cryan, 48. Wealth management clients, who have already withdrawn a net 182.9 billion francs over the 18 months through the end of September, may not halt redemptions until UBS returns to profitability, he added. “The turnaround will have to come from the investment bank,” said Dirk Becker, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Kepler Capital Markets who rates UBS “reduce.” “However, the biggest profits will come from the private bank. The problem is money outflows and there is no serious hope yet that they will stop.”

Paulson Puts Money On Citi, Ditching Goldman (NYT)
Paulson & Co. acquired an additional 300 million shares of Citigroup during the third quarter, while selling its entire holding in rival Goldman Sachs.

Blankfein: Firm’s wealth unit ‘should be bigger’ (IN)
He declined to discuss specific hiring goals but said in the interview that the firm “has to get into the high hundreds, before we can talk about thousands, of advisers.”

Deutsche Bank Drowning in Vegas on Costliest Bank-Owned Casino (Bloomberg)
And they’re literally underwater: “Any construction project of this size runs into problems,” Fasulo said. “But to bump into an aquifer is just bad luck.”

GM Reports $1.15 Billion Loss (WSJ)
An improvement over last year!

Jamie Dimon: Banks Should Be Allowed To Expand—And Fail (WaPo)
“Ending the era of “too big to fail” does not mean that we must somehow cap the size of financial-services firms. Scale can create value for shareholders; for consumers, who are beneficiaries of better products, delivered more quickly and at less cost; for the businesses that are our customers; and for the economy as a whole. Artificially limiting the size of an institution, regardless of the business implications, does not make sense. The goal should be a regulatory system that allows financial institutions to meet the needs of individual and institutional customers while ensuring that even the biggest bank can be allowed to fail in a way that does not put taxpayers or the broader economy at risk.”

Warren Buffett Says The Financial Panic Is Over (Reuters)
“The financial panic is behind us,” Buffett said at Columbia University’s business school. “Our economy was sputtering, still is sputtering some.”

Ex-Bankers Form ‘Blind Pools’ in Bid for Failed Lenders (WSJ)
“Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG are racing to form investment pools that plan to fund acquisitions by the bankers, who hope to leap into the auction process for failing banks led by the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp. One trio of banking veterans who are considering such plans is former J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive William Harrison, former Wachovia Corp. CEO Robert Steele, and Herb Boydstun, former CEO of Hibernia Corp., a regional bank in New Orleans that was sold to Capital One Financial Corp., according to people familiar with the situation.”

Roomy Khan Tipped Several People In Galleon Case (NYT)
“I provided information to several co-conspirators who worked for various hedge funds, who also traded on the inside information for profit,” Khan said. Also, she destroyed incriminating emails. NBD.

At Boeing, Dreamliner Fix Reveals New Wrinkle (WSJ)
Bad news. Your order is being delayed yet again.