Finance

Seven More U.S. Banks Seized as Regulators Close Most Lenders Since 1992 Six banks in Illinois and one in Texas were seized by regulators as the deepening financial crisis pushed the toll of failed U.S. lenders this year to 52, the most since 1992.

Treasury Said to Start Distressed-Debt Program With $20 Billion of Funds The U.S. Treasury Department may begin its program to spur purchases of mortgage-backed securities from banks with about $20 billion in public and private money, down from as much as $100 billion when it was announced in March, two people familiar with the matter said.

Madoff Manhattan Apartment in Hands of U.S. Marshals After Ruth Shown Door U.S. marshals seized Bernard Madoff’s $7 million Manhattan penthouse apartment following a federal judge’s order that the Upper East Side residence be forfeited by the convicted con man.

Private-Equity Firms Say FDIC Rules Will Thwart Takeovers of Failed Banks Private-equity firms said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may be diminishing the appetite for future bank takeovers by demanding buyout groups put more capital at risk.

U.K. Funds Gain in First Half; M&G's Dobell Leads on Tullow, Invensys Bet U.K. stock mutual funds returned 3.2 percent on average in the first half, with M&G Group Plc’s 3.2 billion-pound ($5.2 billion) Recovery Fund leading the largest funds after it bet on Tullow Oil Plc and Invensys Plc.

HSBC's Swiss Private Bank Asked Clients to Surrender Secrecy Protection HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private bank last September asked clients and independent money managers to surrender their right to banking secrecy protection in order to keep securities invested in 28 countries.

Stanford's Lost Passport Found at Office of Receiver's Lawyers, U.S. Says R. Allen Stanford’s expired Antiguan passport was found among possessions seized by a court-appointed receiver for the financier’s companies, three days after prosecutors told a U.S. judge they didn’t know where it was.

China's ICBC Is in Talks With Thai Government on Buying Stake in ACL Bank Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest bank by market value, is in talks with the Thai government to buy a controlling stake in ACL Bank Pcl, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said.

Hatton Bank Targets Sri Lanka's North, Infrastructure as Civil War Ends Hatton National Bank Ltd., Sri Lanka’s second-biggest non-state lender by assets, plans to add branches and finance rebuilding in the island’s north and east following an end to three decades of civil war.

JPMorgan Said to Hire Former Merrill Technology Banker Somemiya in Japan JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired Hideki Somemiya from Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. to boost its merger advisory and equity underwriting business for Japanese technology companies, two people familiar with the hiring said.

Camulos in Talks to Give Mariner Role in Hedge-Fund Business Operations Camulos Capital LP, a hedge-fund firm founded by former Soros Fund Management LLC trader Richard Brennan, is in talks to have Mariner Investment Group run its business operations.