BizAims

A federal judge turned down a request for a new trial from convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko, the pivotal figure in a major Illinois political corruption scandal.

Rezko, 53, who made millions of dollars as a Chicago real estate developer and fast-food entrepreneur, was a major fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, President-elect Barack Obama and a number of other officials.

Rezko was convicted in June of using clout with the governor's office to launch a $7 million scheme to squeeze payoffs out of a construction contractor and seven money management firms seeking state business.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, who presided over the three-month trial, said federal prosecutors proved their case and she refused to throw out any of the guilty verdicts.

Citigroup Inc. will close two of its British personal loan operations and could cut more than 650 jobs, the embattled banking giant said Monday.

Citi UK said that as of Wednesday, it will stop offering loans through its Future Mortgages and CitiFinancial arms, which deal mainly in subprime mortgage and unsecured personal loans, respectively.

"This business realignment reflects Citi's recently announced global focus of allocating capital to the best opportunities for growth," the company said in a statement.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Republic of the Philippines, is the one to regulate the activities of non-bank institutions activating in Philippines that provide e-money services. Such decision was made in order to protect people from losses and deception.

According to Nestor A. Espenilla, who is the BSP Deputy Governor, the central bank looks forward to come up with legible instructions regarding the e-money business. Due to the fact that natural persons or agencies who obtain cash in order to convert them into electronic money possess public money, they are not different from banks and thus they should be regulated.

Dell Inc. deceived customers in a massive "bait and switch" scheme to increase sales of its computer and electronic products, a New York state judge ruled Tuesday.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell in 2007 on behalf of hundreds of customers who claimed that the electronics company lured them into buying products with promises of attractive deals and promotions.

In reality, the lawsuit alleged, most customers were denied or misled into believing that they had been approved for low interest or financing rates.

The lawsuit also accused Dell of depriving customers of technical support that they were entitled to, in some instances, by pressuring them into performing repairs on their own or subjecting them to long wait times on the phone.

NON-bank lender Resi Mortgage Corporation says the banks have misrepresented the true impact of the global credit crisis after a third big lender increased rates on home loans.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (CBA) yesterday followed the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) and the National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) to lift interest rates independent of any action by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Resi's head of consumer advocacy, Lisa Montgomery, said Australian banks had used the global credit crisis to disparage the reputation of non-bank lenders to claw back market share.

Barclays has revealed that its investment banking unit lost £1 billion ($1.94 billion) in the first quarter of 2008 due to credit-market turbulence, but the British bank surprised some analysts by not announcing a rights issue as some of its peers have.

Barclays has surprisingly not yet offered a rights issue to regain its lost investment capital.

The Barclays Capital investment banking unit was nonetheless profitable during the quarter despite the losses, Barclays said.

The FBI is searching for a serial bank robber who investigators are calling "Prada Man," Darcy Spencer reported First On 4.

The man, who wears designer sunglasses, has robbed Navy Federal Credit Union locations in Maryland and Virginia six times since September, stealing $100,000 in cash.

In addition to designer sunglasses, the man has also worn a knit cap and latex gloves during the robberies, investigators said. Authorities said he typically wears the same type of clothing.

A survey has found banks collected nearly $11 billion in fees in the last financial year.

The Reserve Bank found that in the 2007 financial year, the income the 19 participating banks earned from fees grew by 8 per cent to $10.5 billion.

Households accounted for $4.4 billion, with fees on deposit accounts making up 40 per cent of those earnings.

But the RBA says it does not appear that banks are charging higher fees, because the income they receive is growing more slowly than their balance sheets.

The Royal Bank of Canada said it would take a write down of 855 million Canadian dollars ($846 million) on its second-quarter earnings, largely because of problems in the United States debt market.

The bank, which is Canada’s largest financial institution, said the single biggest devaluation, worth about 200 million Canadian dollars, came from its exposure to a subsidiary of MBIA, the troubled bond insurer based in Armonk, N.Y.

The size of the bank’s write down was at the high end of most analysts’ expectations.

Moody’s said in a statement that the write down would not significantly alter the bank’s capital level or its ability to pay dividends.

The folks at Social Media Today have posted a paper online entitled "Social Media and the Banking Industry" that contains some interesting findings and observations about the "new social media" and banks. First, and foremost, most banks don't "get it." At least other than Wells Fargo, which appears to be leading the pack by eight furlongs when it comes to understanding the use of blogs and wikis internally, although Deutsche Bank appears to be making strides. Most bankers apparently wouldn't know a wiki from a wombat or a blog from a bog. On the other hand, a few savvy readers of this blog appear to be bankers, at least the ones that threaten to punch my lights out for some snarky comment sent their way all appear to be bankers.