Finance topics

China should keep the yuan stable, in part because that is beneficial for a global economic recovery, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The yuan’s exchange rate has little to do with its trade imbalance, spokesman Yao Jian told a news conference.

He added that it was unfair to urge just one country to increase the value of its currency, as other currencies fall in value.

Yao was speaking shortly after International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said a stronger yuan is part of the reforms that Beijing needs to implement to increase domestic consumption and help ease global imbalances.

(Reporting by Aileen Wang and Jason Subler; Editing by Ken Wills)

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The U.S. Federal Reserve is best equipped to supervise the largest, most complex firms, a top U.S. Treasury official said on Friday.

“No regulator had a perfect record leading up to the crisis,” Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin said in prepared remarks to the American Bar Association’s banking law committee. “But in our view, the Federal Reserve is the agency best equipped for the task of supervising the largest, most complex firms.”

The comments came three days after Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, proposed consolidating bank supervisory powers in a single agency, stripping the Fed of its role as a direct bank supervisor.

Wolin did not mention Dodd by name in his comments, but said the Fed’s supervisory role gave it a deep understanding of and timely access to information about the banking sector, payment systems and capital markets no credit check payday loan.

“Stripped of its supervisory role, the Fed would not have timely and complete information in a crisis,” he said.

The Fed, the U.S. central bank, has drawn sharp criticism from some lawmakers for its handling of the financial crisis, particularly its controversial decisions to extend emergency loans to firms such as AIG, which it did not directly supervise.

(Reporting by Emily Kaiser; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

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American International Group Inc’s tough talking chief executive has reportedly threatened to quit, but the giant insurer, which is showing signs of life after its brush with bankruptcy last year, could do fine without him.

Robert Benmosche threatened to quit AIG in part because he complains he cannot pay employees enough, according to the Wall Street Journal.

AIG declined comment, but in a letter to employees Benmosche said he was working aggressively to “overcome this compensation barrier that stands in the way of restoring AIG’s value.”

He also said he was “totally committed” to seeing the company through its difficulties.

As a recipient of some $180 billion in government aid, AIG falls under the purview of Obama administration compensation czar Kenneth Feinberg and Benmosche has balked at Feinberg’s proposed pay restrictions.

But if Benmosche, the well regarded former CEO of MetLife Inc makes good on his reported threats to leave AIG, it would hardly be a tragedy for the company, analysts said. He has been at the insurer for only about three months, which is not enough time for him to have become essential for its daily operations. And Wall Street is full of competent executives looking for work.

“The loss of one chief executive won’t change too much for AIG,” said Sean Egan, principal of ratings agency Egan-Jones Ratings Co in Haverford, Pennsylvania. “There are plenty of other people who can fill the role.”

A CALCULATED RISK

What is at issue in Benmosche’s conflicts with Feinberg is whether companies that rely on government support to stay in business can pay less than competitors that have shucked that support payday cash loans.

Feinberg has cut cash compensation for the 25 best-paid employees at companies that received multiple bailouts and is setting guidelines for pay for the next 75.

For AIG in particular, Feinberg has vowed to limit bonuses at the company’s Financial Products unit, whose massive payouts earlier this year sparked huge outrage. AIG is on track to pay $198 million in bonuses to Financial Products employees in March 2010.

Making these cuts amounts to a gamble.

“He’s thinking he can limit pay and that an insufficient number of people will leave for better opportunities to really harm the companies,” said Robert Sedgwick, a partner in executive compensation and benefits at law firm Morrison Cohen in New York.

To some analysts, that is a reasonable bet. The pool of talent for hire is likely fairly deep now, as financial companies have announced about 400,000 layoffs since the credit crunch really accelerated in mid-2007, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. So even if people leave, others can replace them.

“There are a lot of qualified people out there who would love to work at AIG,” said Bill Fitzpatrick, equity research analyst at Optique Capital Management in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

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Europe’s biggest bank HSBC Holdings Plc said its underlying third-quarter profits were significantly ahead of a year ago and losses on U.S. consumer loans had shown their first fall in three years.

The news sent HSBC stock up over 4 percent to their highest in just over a year. At 0910 GMT (4:10 a.m. EST), the shares were up 3.4 percent at 715.7p.

In a trading statement on Tuesday which lacked detailed figures on its quarterly results, HSBC said its investment banking arm had maintained its record performance in the quarter, following bumper performances by rivals including Britain’s Barclays.

It said margins for the Global Banking and Markets arm were not as good in the quarter as they were in the exceptional first half, which benefitted from pent-up demand after the crisis hit at the end of 2008, but said margins were very good compared with previous years, including 2006 and 2007.

In the United States, which has been the focus of market concern, HSBC said loan impairment allowances for its consumer finance business declined, representing the first quarterly fall since the start of 2006 and their lowest level for over a year.

But the bank cautioned it was still too soon to call a turn in U.S. consumer impairments, which hit around $3 billion in the third quarter, though there were positive signs.

“Consensus forecasts (for unemployment, house prices) are moving down from some of the more pessimistic figures bad credit payday advance… if these things all play out, those would be reflective of turning points. But I don’t think anyone is confident to call those yet,” Finance Director Douglas Flint told reporters.

Overall loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions declined in the quarter and were at their lowest quarterly level since the second quarter of 2008.

“I believe the biggest jolt has now passed through the global economy,” said HSBC Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan. “The world will likely see a two-speed recovery,” he said, adding that emerging markets are likely to drive the recovery.

The bank said on a reported basis, including losses on the fair value of its own debt, third-quarter profits were lower than a year ago. The bank said it had seen a further tightening of credit spreads in October, resulting in an additional reduction in the gain from fair-value movements in its own debt.

HSBC also said its U.S. business would announce the sale of its U.S. vehicle loan servicing operations and $1 billion in vehicle loans to Santander’s U.S. operations.

(Editing by David Holmes)

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U.S. retailers are poised to defy gloom this week as earnings expectations have improved, but the big test will be what they say about holiday shopping.

Earnings estimates for Standard & Poor’s 500 retailers have headed higher in recent weeks, some after October same-store sales figures were released Thursday, leaving strategists optimistic about next week’s retail results.

The sector takes center stage just as the earnings calendar winds down, with results already in from almost 90 percent of S&P 500 companies.

Same-store sales were mixed. But several retailers expected to post results this week, including upscale department store chain Nordstrom JWS.N, performed better than expected on the same-store sales front.

That bodes well for the week’s results, analysts said, but commentary about store traffic, with the start of holiday shopping less than three weeks away, could be just as important to investors.

“It’s all about perception going into Christmas,” said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at Cowen & Co. in New York.

The S&P 500 is up 58 percent since its 12-year closing low in early March. But it’s down more than 2 percent since mid-October, and investors are anxious to see if the market can hold those gains through the end of the year.

The Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday marks the start of the holiday shopping period, when most retailers traditionally make most of their profits.

Third-quarter earnings for retail apparel S&P 500 companies are seen rising 18 percent, compared with expectations for a gain of just 4 percent just three weeks ago, said John Butters, director of U.S. earnings for Thomson Reuters, in New York.

SLIGHTLY BRIGHTER PROSPECTS

S&P 500 department store earnings are seen declining 48 percent, but that’s an improvement from expectations for a drop of 54 percent three weeks ago, he said.

Earnings for the entire consumer discretionary S&P sector, which includes most retailers, are expected to increase 44.7 percent from a year ago, compared with October 1 expectations for a gain of 16 percent, Thomson Reuters data showed.

“If comps (same-store sales) are any indication, there should be some positive surprises,” said Fred Dickson, market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Retailers have been helped by economic growth, even though employment levels are falling, analysts said.

Friday’s government jobs report put the nation’s unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, the highest in 26-1/2 years. 

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The U.S. official who slashed pay for 25 top financial executives on Thursday said regulatory proposals to rein in excessive compensation are like plain “vanilla prescriptions” that might work or might not.

U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg told a panel at New York University law school that his rulings drew so much public interest because they concerned pay for specific individuals, while other regulators have offered only general proposals. He said those proposals sound good, but have not been tested.

“As far as I know, we are the only one who have actually calculated pay,” Feinberg, the Obama administration’s point man on pay, said during the panel discussion about the future of regulation and the capital markets.

Last month, Feinberg slashed compensation for the top 25 earners at the seven companies for the final two months of the year — when bonuses are typically paid.

The seven companies are American International Group Inc, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, General Motors Co GM.UL, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial.

Feinberg has said financial firms should be prepared to face tough scrutiny from regulators on pay plans.

The Federal Reserve last month issued bank pay guidelines aimed at curbing the type of reckless risk-taking officials say contributed to the crisis that nearly brought down the financial system last year payday loan in advance.

Top bank executives met with Fed officials on Monday to discuss the process for the incentive compensation arrangement reviews that are part of the new guidelines.

Feinberg said his office has met regularly with Fed officials and has also met with officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and with Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Feinberg was appointed as the pay czar in June amid public outrage that companies bailed out by the government were still paying huge bonuses.

Before his first wave of rulings, Feinberg joked he might need to move to Pluto because of the reaction he expected. But on Thursday he said he felt the reaction was “satisfactory.”

The panel also included Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was used to bailout banks amid the financial crisis.

Feinberg is now in the process of ruling on the compensation structures that will apply to the 26th to 100th highest-paid workers at the seven firms. (Reporting by Steve Eder; Editing by David Gregorio)

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The presidents of the nation’s top private universities got 6.5% more in pay last year, with 23 taking home more than $1 million, according to a study published Monday.

The Chronicle of Higher Education said the median pay for private-college chiefs rose to $358,746 in fiscal year 2007-2008.

The study of 419 private colleges nationwide also showed 110 presidents reported total compensation of more than $500,000.

Among the 23 presidents with total compensation above $1 million, the highest paid was Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., with $1,598,247 in salary and benefits.

Jackson, 63, a physicist and former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was recruited to lead Rensselaer in 1999. She took a voluntary pay reduction of 5% for the current fiscal year, according to the Chronicle.

In a statement issued Monday, Rensselaer defended Jackson’s compensation, saying she helped raise $1.4 billion in capital, which transformed the school into "a top-tier, world class teaching and research institution."

"The value she contributes to the Institute far exceeds the amount she is paid," said William Walker, Rensselaer’s vice president of strategic communications and external relations.

David Sargent, president of Suffolk University in Boston, was the second highest paid college executive in the study. Sargent took home $1,496,593 in total compensation last year. But that’s down from $2,800,461 in fiscal 2006-2007, when he topped the list.

About one-third of Sargent’s pay was reported as deferred compensation in 2006 tax documents, and was reported again as salary this year, according to the report.

The third highest paid college chief was the University of Tulsa president Steadman Upham, with total compensation of $1,485,275.

Looking ahead, the Chronicle said salary increases have probably leveled off in the current fiscal year, with some presidents taking pay cuts.

Meanwhile, tuition prices are going up at many private schools, at least in part because endowments at those schools have dwindled.

Tuition and fees at private 4-year schools rose 4.4% in the current school year to $26,273, according to a survey released by the College Board last month. That doesn’t include room and board. 

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U.S. companies hurt by the global credit crisis are continuing to hold more cash, even as the economy begins to show signs of improvement, the Wall Street Journal said, citing its analysis of company filings.

In the second quarter, the 500 largest non-financial U.S. companies by total assets held about $994 billion in cash and short-term investments, or 9.8 percent of their assets, according to the paper’s analysis of corporate filings.

In contrast, the companies held $846 billion, or 7.9 percent of assets, a year ago, the paper said.

The trend seems to have continued in the third quarter, despite an improving economy, the paper said companies making payday loans.

The 248 companies that have reported third-quarter results so far saw their cash holdings go up by a percentage point sequentially to 11.1 percent of assets, the paper said.

Companies such as Alcoa Inc, Google Inc, PepsiCo Inc and Texas Instruments Inc reported big third-quarter increases in cash holdings, the paper said.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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