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Tacoma News Tribune – The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street’s biggest Ponzi schemes grew larger Monday, snaring some of the world’s biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.
The alleged victims who sunk cash into veteran Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff’s investment pool include real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, the foundation of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and a charity of movie director Steven Spielberg, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Among the world’s biggest banking institutions, Britain’s HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Man Group PLC, Spain’s Grupo Santander SA, France’s BNP Paribas and Japan’s Nomura Holdings all reported that they had fallen victim to Madoff’s alleged Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme.
TheChronicleHerald.ca – The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street’s biggest Ponzi schemes is growing, snaring some of the world’s biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.
The alleged victims who sunk cash into veteran Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff’s investment pool include real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, the foundation of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and a charity of movie director Steven Spielberg, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Among the world’s biggest banking institutions, Britain’s HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Man Group PLC, Spain’s Grupo Santander SA, France’s BNP Paribas and Japan’s Nomura Holdings all reported that they had fallen victim to Madoff’s alleged Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme.
Ananova - Royal Bank of Scotland says it is facing a potential loss of £400m after a Wall Street banker was charged with a massive alleged fraud.
US prosecutors say Bernard Madoff has confessed to defrauding investors of $50bn (£33bn) in a giant pyramid scheme that collapsed in the global financial crisis.
RBS, in which the British government now has a majority stake, says it has exposure through investments in hedge funds that invested with Mr Madoff.
It is one of a number of banks that face big losses in the suspected fraud.
Santander, the Spanish bank that owns Abbey and Alliance and Leicester, said it had more than 2.3bn euros (£2.08bn) worth of exposure.
Independent – The FTSE 100 Index tumbled more than 200 points today after a weekend of financial turmoil in Europe.
Investors took scant comfort from Friday’s backing of a US financial rescue to leave the FTSE 100 Index down almost 5 per cent or 240.5 points at 4739.
Banks were under pressure after German mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate became the latest to receive state aid.
Analysts said the impact of the latest crisis crossed all sectors amid fears of slowing demand.
Halifax Bank of Scotland – soon to merge with Lloyds TSB – plunged 15 per cent in the sell-off, while Royal Bank of Scotland suffered a 10 per cent drop.
The market was also hit hard by hefty falls from heavily-weighted mining stocks after experts warned that the sector’s earnings could almost halve this year.
Reuters – John Paulson, a U.S. hedge fund manager who gained a superstar reputation with a big bet against the U.S. housing market, was shown holding a 1 billion pound ($1.9 billion) bet against UK banks as short sellers were forced to disclose their positions.
Paulson & Co., run by John Paulson and based in New York, said it had a 1.2 percent short position in Barclays, worth over 350 million pounds, a 1.8 percent short position in Lloyds TSB, and short positions of just under 1 percent in Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.
The stakes were unveiled on Wednesday after Britain’s regulator imposed a ban on short-selling financial stocks last Friday, which was followed by similar moves in the United States and elsewhere.
Bloomberg- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc has been sued by London-based hedge fund Merebis Capital Management LLP for reversing a 250 million-euro ($395 million) investment in Merebis by ABN Amro shortly after RBS acquired the Dutch bank, the Financial Times reported.
Merebis claims in a case filed in London’s High Court that it is owed a penalty fee of 17.8 million pounds ($35 million) for the early withdrawal by ABN, which was repaid most of its investment this month, leading to the closing of the hedge fund, the newspaper said.
FRANKFURT (Reuters)- UBS has wrapped up a 16 billion franc rights issue, the Swiss bank’s second effort to resuscitate finances that have been ravaged by the global markets crisis.
It is the latest in a line of major banks including Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS and France’s Credit Agricole to go cap in hand to shareholders. In total, European banks are raising more than $40 billion from shell-shocked investors.
UBS said on Friday 99.4 percent of the issue was taken up but one analyst pointed to what he said was UBS’s weak stock performance during the rights trading. "It has been weak ever since they announced the rights issue," said Peter Thorne, an analyst with Helvea.
Times Online- The Financial Services Authority took the unprecedented step of pressuring Britain’s five biggest banks into supporting the revised rescue capital-raising at Bradford & Bingley last week, The Times has learnt. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HBOS are understood to have each agreed to sub-underwrite £20 million-worth of the reworked £258 million rights issue.
The banks agreed to step in when Citigroup and UBS, the lead underwriters, could find no one to whom they could lay off some of the risk. Underwriters typically pass on some of the risk to institutions known as sub-underwriters. The FSA, worried that too much Bradford & Bingley stock would be left with UBS and Citigroup, which are already under pressure, decided in the middle of last week to ask the big five to take some of the risk.
Bloomberg – Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc led gains for European banking stocks on speculation that demand for its rights offer is strong and a U.K. hedge fund is buying shares to push for a breakup.
Edinburgh-based RBS, Britain’s second-biggest bank, rose 8.3 percent to 244.75 pence in London trading. Investors are speculating that the bank’s 12 billion-pound ($23.6 billion) rights offering is succeeding and that hedge fund TCI Fund Management LLP is building a position, said MF Global Securities Ltd. analyst Simon Maughan.
“The rumor in the market is that TCI is taking a stake of about 1 percent and is agitating for a breakup of Royal Bank,” said Maughan, who has a “sell” rating on the stock. “They’ve made a series of strategic errors,” and shareholders would gain if RBS’s investment bank were split off, he said.
RBS is raising cash and selling assets to shore up capital depleted by the acquisition of ABN Amro Holding NV and credit- related writedowns. It declined to comment on TCI, the London- based hedge fund that helped trigger the sale of ABN Amro, or investor response to the offering, which closes June 6 and is underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG.
RBS is offering 11 new shares at 200 pence apiece for every 18 existing shares to help lift its capital ratios. It also is trying to sell its insurance arm for about 7 billion pounds as well as its Angel Trains Ltd. railway leasing company and consumer-banking operations in Australia and New Zealand.
