Top Interest Rate Headlines 01-31-12: Deficit Again Expected To Top $1 Trillion

Deficit Again Expected To Top $1 Trillion
WSJ.com
The federal budget deficit likely will top $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive year in fiscal 2012 as the economy continues to grow at a sluggish pace, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted Tuesday
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577194872392678482.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Wall Street loosens ties with CME rival ELX
Ann Saphir - Reuters
The Wall Street powerhouses that founded ELX Futures LP to combat CME Group Inc 's virtual monopoly in Treasury futures are cutting their ownership stakes in the tiny exchange, where trading volumes were battered by last fall's failure of MF Global Holdings. "We're working on a new capital structure for ELX," its new chief executive, Rich Jaycobs, told Reuters on Monday, in his first public interview since taking the job on Jan 20.
http://jlne.ws/wiAa2Q

ICE to combine margins for CDS clearing
By Telis Demos in New York - Financial Times
The IntercontinentalExchange will begin allowing banks to combine the margin used to clear trades in single-name and indices of credit default swaps, but is still waiting on regulatory approval to allow banks’ customers to do so.
http://jlne.ws/xRDaUG

Banks set to double crisis loans from ECB
By Patrick Jenkins and David Oakley in London and Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt - Financial Times
European banks are preparing to tap the European Central Bank’s emergency funding scheme for up to twice as much as the ECB supplied in its debut E489bn auction last month, providing further evidence of the sector’s liquidity squeeze.
http://jlne.ws/xkGh0J

Citigroup's Coutts Said to Depart as Co-Chief of France Unit
BusinessWeek
Citigroup Inc.'s co-chief country officer and head of corporate and investment banking for France, Eric Coutts, left the company as the lender reduces staff, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
http://jlne.ws/z6zvKw

Citigroup Said to Cut Bonuses in Investment Bank By About 30%
BusinessWeek
Citigroup Inc., the third-biggest U.S. lender by assets, cut 2011 bonuses in its investment banking division by about 30 percent on average amid slumping revenue, according to a person briefed on the matter.
http://jlne.ws/yvTA5x

Santander annual profit falls 35%
By Victor Mallet in Madrid - Financial Times
Net profit at Spain’s Santander, the eurozone’s biggest bank by market capitalisation, fell 35 per cent last year to E5.35bn from E8.18bn in 2010 as the Spanish property market collapse and the eurozone debt crisis continued to erode earnings.
http://jlne.ws/AvZIvM

FSA warns on Mifid review proposals
By Philip Stafford - Financial Times
Proposed European Union legislation to create a new type of trading venue could lead to “a significant withdrawal of liquidity” from the region’s largest off-exchange derivatives market, the UK regulator has warned.
http://jlne.ws/zmCHpw

Commerzbank Chief Defends Not Paying Past Bonuses
By JULIA WERDIGIER
LONDON — Martin Blessing, the chief executive of Commerzbank, said on Monday that he thought he had acted “honorably” when the bank decided not to pay 2008 bonuses to 104 investment bankers.
http://jlne.ws/wNnwoV

Freddie Mac: A mess, and likely to stay that way
CNN Money
It's not tough to find critics of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on either the right or the left. But there has been little progress made in rehabilitating the mortgage giants.
http://jlne.ws/y1123a