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When the results of the government's financial stress tests were announced last week, Citigroup seemed to have dodged a bullet. The bank, long thought to be in the worst shape among the nation's largest lenders, was said to need just $5.5 billion in capital in order to return to health. No small sum, to be sure. But amazingly, what Citi was required to raise was less than half the $13.7 billion that competitor Wells Fargo was told to come up with. And far less than the nearly $34 billion that regulators said Bank of America needed to bolster...
...little deeper, though, and Citi's stress-test results look more like an F than the B+ the bank seemed to get. Among the 19 banks the government probed, Citi was found to have the lowest common capital ratio, which the government said was a key measure to protect against insolvency. What's more, Citi also got credit for a capital conversion it has yet to complete. Strip that out, and the amount of capital Citi needs balloons to nearly $63 billion, more than any of the other banks tested. (See pictures of the dangers of printing money...
...raise less capital than some of its competitors. But since the full results of the stress test have come out, Citi's shares are down 8%, to a recent $3.50. That compares to a drop of just 2.5% in the same time for JPMorgan, which was deemed to be among the banks that are relatively healthy. "I think Citigroup is an interesting stock, but we don't own it," says Edward Maran, portfolio manager of the Thornburg Value Fund. "If the government gives the company the time to earn its way out of its problems, then I think the stock...
...Citi's exam also included a $58 billion credit titled "Other Capital Actions." The credit is for the conversion of preferred stock that Citi says it plans to do but has not yet completed. Among the other 18 banks that were examined, only one other, Bank of America, was allowed to include a similar credit in the results of its stress test. And at $1.8 billion, BofA's credit was far less a factor in the outcome of its test than Citi's was. Since the stress tests, other banks have announced plans or have been able to quickly complete...
...With few giving him any chance in general elections expected in 12 months, Brown looks fresh out of ideas - and luck. A tabloid newspaper this week published make-up instructions written for the Prime Minister, found among official papers left in the back of a taxi. The brief advised the P.M. on using foundation, concealer, and fake tan. To his credit, though, they didn't end up on expenses...