Financial Headlines

ICBC becomes world's largest lender by deposits
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the world's largest lender by deposits and by market capitalization. The development underscores how well Chinese banks have weathered the financial crisis compared with many of their rivals. ICBC overtook JPMorgan Chase and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group of Japan. Financial Times (13 Apr.) , Reuters (14 Apr.)

S&P: Leveraged buyouts to boost corporate defaults in Europe
Standard & Poor's predicted that as many as 112 speculative-grade European companies will default this year. The credit-rating agency said defaults among companies bought in leveraged buyouts in which the targets are loaded with debt will be "materially higher." "We see the risk to currently vulnerable companies being that their lenders have neither the appetite nor the capacity to provide new financing to help them through the downturn," S&P analysts wrote in a report. Bloomberg (14 Apr.)

Sources: U.S. might accept equity in GM for some debt
The U.S. government is looking at the possibility of taking an equity stake in a restructured General Motors as payment for some of its $13.4 billion in loans to the troubled automaker, said people familiar with the proposal. Bondholders who own $27.5 billion in GM debt also would be offered an equity-for-debt swap, the sources said. Reuters (14 Apr.)

Lenders lash out at proposals to overhaul student loans
The Obama administration's proposed changes to the student-loan program would deliver poor service to borrowers, cause thousands of industry workers to lose their jobs and unnecessarily expand the national debt by billions of dollars, said representatives of the student-loan industry. The government said the changes would save taxpayers $94 billion and better target the help toward students who need it most. The Washington Post (14 Apr.)

China won't undercut U.S., Fed official says
The U.S. and Chinese economies are so closely aligned that China would not consider dumping Treasuries or other actions that would disrupt U.S. interests, said Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "China cannot succeed if the U.S. does not succeed," he said. Reuters (14 Apr.)

Workers worry more in downturn about retirement savings
Workers are the most pessimistic in nearly 20 years about their ability to save enough money for a comfortable retirement, the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute found in a survey. One of the survey's authors, Jack VanDerhei, said the good news is that "this will be a wake-up call for many people who had false optimism in the past." The New York Times/The Associated Press (14 Apr.)