Finance and M&A News and Updates

Hedge funds on average were down 18.5 percent for 2008 (as of November), and assets under management, which peaked at almost $2 trillion last June, shrank by almost one-fifth (as of October), according to Hedge Fund Research data. The Washington Post says assets under management could shrink by as much as 75 percent.

For a while, it seemed like open season on the Treasury Department and the criticisms were flying fast and furious. In hindsight, the department was, and is, something of an easy target because the task was all but impossible: Implement a package to basically save the world economy--on the fly.

FINRA has found that two units of E-Trade did not have adequate anti-money laundering programs in place. Such policies and procedures "could not reasonably be expected to detect and cause the reporting of suspicious securities transactions." The lack of automated tools was noted. Article

With the world in the grip of an economic downturn, making the most of IT spending has never been more important for business.

The Corporate IT Forum recently found that its most senior members are planning to invest in IT but managing costs, careful budgeting and trimming discretionary spending are key priorities.

JPMorgan Chase has fared as well as any bank in the credit crunch. It has emerged as one of the Big Four and seems to be bent on strategic expansion in a way that Citi is not. Case in point: JPMorgan will buy two units from UBS, a Canadian commodities energy business and its global agricultural business. Both allow for strategic fills. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the general view is that while JPMorgan is in position to make these sort of deals, Citi is not. In fact, most people think that Citi needs to stay focused on asset sales.