Finance

MetLife Said to Weigh Using $8 Billion of Stock to Fund AIG Alico Buyout MetLife Inc. may use stock to pay for more than half of the planned $15 billion purchase of an American International Group Inc. life insurance unit, said three people with knowledge of the matter.

Commonwealth Bank Forecasts Stronger Demand for Loans After Record Profit Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation’s biggest lender, forecast strengthening demand for loans and fewer bad debts after posting record profit in its fiscal first half as the financial crisis abates.

RBS, Lloyds Stakes May Be Sold by U.K. Government in 5 Years, Panel Says British taxpayers may sell their stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc in five years, with RBS exiting the government asset- insurance program in “two to three years,” a panel of lawmakers reported, citing testimony by Treasury officials.

Consumer Watchdog Urged by Blumenthal to Guard Against Bank Lending Abuse Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the U.S. Senate must create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to prevent recurrence of banking-industry excesses that pushed the economy to the brink of collapse.

Temasek May Set Up $3 Billion Hedge Fund Named Seatown, AsianInvestor Says Temasek Holdings Pte is planning a $3 billion hedge fund, AsianInvestor reported on its Web site, without saying where it got the information.

SPACs Will Help to Reverse Korean Mergers Slowdown, Green Korea's Ji Says Special purpose acquisition companies will drive takeovers in South Korea, where deal volume has dropped for the past three years, said Ji Sung Bae, who runs the country’s first such firm.

Paulson Tells Buffett U.S. to Get `Every Penny' of Bailout Back from Banks Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, responding to a question from billionaire Warren Buffett, said the U.S. government will be repaid in full for the funds it put into the country’s lenders.

Madison Williams Hires Five From Oppenheimer to Expand U.S. Equity Trading Madison Williams & Co., an investment bank spun off from Sanders Morris Harris Group Inc. in December, hired five former Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. employees to expand trading in New York and Connecticut and in industries such as health care.

Lincoln National Shares Surge as Insurer Swings to Profit, Beats Estimates Lincoln National Corp., the insurer that took a $950 million U.S. bailout, rose 4.3 percent after earnings beat analysts’ estimates.

Deutsche Bank Hires JPMorgan's Hooper, Biggers for U.S. Cash Equity Sales Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, hired Tim Hooper of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the U.S. as managing director and head of Southeast cash equity sales as the company seeks to gain market share.