The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is challenging positive conclusions given to Citigroup Inc.'s (C) management in a government-requisitioned review. Some FDIC officials are suspicious about the report, following the interviews of Citi's management who rated the effectiveness of their colleagues. Uncertainty surrounding the integrity of the report may lead the FDIC to assign the report little weight during the next regulatory assessment of the company’s management. The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The FDIC, which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm ...

The management team of Citigroup Inc. (C) received a positive review in an outside appraisal but some shuffling of senior executives could be on the anvil. The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm to perform the review. The report, delivered to Citigroup's board on last Friday, gave strong overall marks to Citigroup's management team and to CEO Vikram Pandit in particular. The review, however, gave less-favorable reckonings to at least two ...

Six months after acquiring Wachovia Corp., the Wells Fargo (WFC) name and stagecoach logo have yet to be seen in the Kansas City area. Indeed it will not be visible till the next year. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has been moving slowly to consolidate Wachovia Bank into its system.   During December last year, the brokerage firm Wachovia Securities became part of Wells Fargo. All 4,800 branches of the residential lender Wachovia Mortgage have been folded into Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.   Wachovia Corp. was purchased by Wells Fargo on Dec 31, 2008, when it ceased to be an independent corporation. The company had been battered by heavy losses – especially in its portfolio of flexible, interest-only home loans – and was suffering a run on its deposits.   The consolidation of Wachovia bank branches into Wells Fargo's network is scheduled to begin this November. The integration will begin

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[Editor's Note: After more than a year of chaos and controversy, some of the leading U.S. banks saw their stock prices soar during the second quarter. As part of its mid-year forecast series, Money Morning examines the outlook for U.S. banks for the rest of this year. To see earlier stories from our mid-year forecast series, please click here.] By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor Money Morning

Can U.S. bank stocks continue their winning streak?

In February, I analyzed the top 12 U.S. banks to determine whether they really needed $1.5 trillion in taxpayer-provided bailout capital. I concluded that only a few of those banks seemed to be in any danger of collapse, and actually recommended several.

Policymakers and the market later came to agree with me: The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financial Index has more than doubled from its March low and several bank stocks have posted triple-digit …

While investors’ attention was focused on global government bond yields marching higher, the holiday-shortened week produced a surprisingly small number of video clips.

Some quality footage was nevertheless produced, featuring the likes of David Rosenberg, now in his new role as chief economist and strategist of Gluskin Sheff, Mohamed El-Erian, Barry Ritholtz, Puru Saxena and Mario Gabelli.

And then there is “out of the box” analyst Marc Faber arguing that the US economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe. “I am 100% sure that the US will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time comes and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

The selection kicks off with a humorous take by Emmy

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.S. gross domestic product (GDP) plunged at a surprisingly sharp 6.1% annual rate in the first quarter, marking its worst performance in 50 years, the Commerce Department reported today (Wednesday). The drop was much steeper than the 4.9% annual rate expected by economists and follows a 6.3% tumble in the fourth quarter of 2008. But a look inside the numbers shows that things may not be as bad as they look. Plummeting exports and massive inventory reductions accounted for most of the fall. And increases in government and consumer spending have some analysts convinced the future looks much brighter. “This is one of those good-bad numbers,” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pa, wrote in a note to investors. “Businesses are running about as lean as they possibly can be. It sets up the reality that any sort of ...

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) expects record first-quarter earnings of $3 billion, or 55 cents per share. Analysts on average expected earnings of 24 cents per share.

Investors have welcomed the positive surprise and the stock has already surged more than 21% today amid higher-than-usual volume of almost 210 million, compared to the average of 163.9 million.

The nation's second-largest home lender expects revenues to grow 16% year-over-year to $20 billion during the quarter.

Wells Fargo also stated that Wachovia Corp, which the former acquired for $12.5 billion, has performed better than expected.

The US bank, which received $25 billion in bailout funds, lowered the quarterly dividend last month by 85% to 5 cents a share in an effort to save $5 billion annually.

Although analysts have pulled back on earnings estimates for this year by 13 cents over the past week, today's positive surprise could lift their

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Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) shares advanced by about 17% on Friday after the company joined other major banks by slashing its dividend payout to shore up capital as a buffer against future credit losses.

Wells Fargo lowered its quarterly dividend by 85% to 5 cents a share in a widely expected move that will help the fourth-largest U.S. bank save $5 billion annually. The company also said it plans $2 billion in additional cost cuts in 2009, starting in the second quarter, excluding job eliminations.

The San Francisco-based bank announced that its operating results in January and February had been “strong” as it made $59 billion in mortgage loans in the two months, up from $50 billion in the entire fourth quarter.

Although Wells Fargo has long been considered one of the stronger players in the banking sector, the stock has been slumping since

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week proposed a series of programs, totaling $1.5 trillion, to bail out the U.S. banking system. Of course, Geithner hasn’t told us precisely how he plans to spend the money, or identified which banks require such an enormous outlay. So I thought it was worth looking at the United States’ 12 largest banks to see where the problems might be and identify which banks might need big infusions of government cash. I perused the financial statements of all 12 banks, and also looked at their market valuations. Unlike when the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) was proposed in September - when the projections for potential losses were largely financial conjecture - we now have important concrete data on the banking system’s troubles; namely, each of the bank’s annual financial reports for ...

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) posted a surprise quarterly loss on Wednesday but its share price still gained 25% as the second-largest U.S. home lender retained its dividend and said it would not need more federal aid to absorb the troubled Wachovia Corp.

For the fourth quarter, Wells Fargo reported a net loss of $2.55 billion, or 79 cents per share, compared with a profit of $1.36 billion, or 41 cents, a year ago. Excluding numerous charges, it had a profit of 41 cents, topping the consensus estimate of 34 cents.

Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said that a $5.6 billion credit reserve and the $3.9 billion provision related to the Wachovia takeover had led to the quarterly loss. The company also took charges of $294 million as some of its customers affected by Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme were unable to pay their loans.

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