Finance

Citigroup's Pandit Plans to `Wind Down' About $400 Billion of Bank Assets Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said he plans to shed about $400 billion of assets over the next three years as part of his plan to return the biggest U.S. bank to profitability.

AIG Falls as Insurer Gives `No Assurance' That Credit Writeoffs Are Over American International Group Inc. led the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower after the world's biggest insurer said it needs to raise $12.5 billion and may face more writedowns after two consecutive record quarterly losses.

Allianz Examining `All Options' for Dresdner Bank as Consolidation Looms Allianz SE is mulling over all options for Dresdner Bank after losses at the unit dragged down profit at Europe's biggest insurer.

Societe Generale Names Valet Finance Chief in Management Swap After Loss Societe Generale SA named Didier Valet as chief financial officer, part of a management shake-up following the French bank's record 4.9 billion-euro ($7.6 billion) trading loss.

Julius Baer Declines in Zurich Trade as Dollar, Market Losses Erode Assets Julius Baer Group, Switzerland's biggest independent money manager, fell in Swiss trading after saying market declines and the franc's appreciation eroded managed assets in the first four months of the year.

Wachovia's Thompson Stripped of Chairman Title After Loss, Stays on Board Wachovia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kennedy Thompson, under fire for buying a California lender as the housing market peaked in 2006, was stripped of his role as chairman of the fourth-largest U.S. bank.

AIG's Need to Raise $12.5 Billion After Loss Renews Doubts About Sullivan American International Group Inc. , the world's biggest insurer by assets, said it needs to raise $12.5 billion after two straight quarterly losses as pressure builds on Chief Executive Officer Martin Sullivan.

Deutsche Bank to Add 185 People in Middle East as Deals Dwindle in West Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, plans to add 185 sales, trading and investment-banking jobs in the Middle East as deals dwindle in Western Europe.

JPMorgan Hires Kitajima, Japan Inflation Swap Pioneer, as Deflation Ends JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired Takuma Kitajima from Merrill Lynch & Co. to start trading yen inflation swaps as Japan emerges from a decade-long bout of deflation.

Citigroup Leads Wall Street Drive to Punish Taxpayers in Auction-Rate Debt Taxpayers from Massachusetts to California are paying Wall Street banks to end derivative contracts gone bad as they exit the collapsing auction-rate bond market, with penalties in some cases topping $10 million and compounding the pain of rising borrowing costs.