This comes from the Danish daily Berlingske Tidene. It suggests that Citibank is cutting back all international lending. Citigroup has sold its German operations to a French bank and I understand they are cutting credit lines in the UK as well. In seeing all these stories together, one gets a full view of [...]

Meredith Whitney, the well-known former Oppenheimer analyst had some interesting words to say on CNBC about the banking sector, nationalization, dividends and Citigroup. Take a look.

We heard testimony before the House Banking Committee in Washington today. The CEOs of eight large financial institutions are being raked over the coals by Congress. It was a scene which reminded me of the Pecora Hearings during the Great Depression. It was also one which is being repeated in London.

The Congressmen are ludicrously indignant — after all, Congress has been complicit in the state of affairs. One member of Congress asked the men (there are no women) to raise their hand to questions on several occassions like schoolboys in a classroom — questions akin to “when did you stop beating your wife.”

I see these proceedings as more show trial to reassure the public than anything substantive. Nevertheless, they are entertaining. Below are videos of the opening statements from each of the CEOs. You might find their comments illuminating regarding their thinking now that the economy has collapsed and they have needed governement assistance.

You should also note that not all of these banks are in a precarious way. Some are better off than others.

As the financial industry further unraveled yesterday, Mathieu Robbins of the Irish Indendent asked a worthwhile question: Was RBS the idiot company of all-time in buying ABN Amro at the top of the market? Robbins says no and offers up nine other equally monstrous deals that all went seriously pear-shaped to prove it.

It’s a done deal. The Citigroup – Morgan Stanley dance is now over. The price for a 51% stake Smith Barney was $2.7 Billion. The seems like a very low valuation here but I haven’t looked through the terms of the deal in depth.

This is the press release that Morgan Stanley released for the deal:

Vikram Pandit understands the seriousness of the challenge ahead, if Citi wants to remain a going concern. He must break the firm up and end Citi’s disastrous experiment with becoming a financial supermarket.

This just hit the wires. Apparently, Bob Rubin has tendered his resignation at Citigroup.

Here is he story from the Wall Street Journal:

After meetings with lawmakers, Citigroup has agreed to back legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to alter the amount due on mortgage principal, so called cram downs.

As it stands today, all other debtors including corporations have the cram down option available in bankruptcy court. However, changes to bankruptcy law have eliminated this option for mortgages, creating an impasse as house prices have dropped.

Bankruptcy is a necessary part of a free market. I certainly believe this to be so. Rick Newman, who writes the blog “Flow Chart” over at U.S. News, is putting forward the provocative idea that failure is exactly what we needed more of in 2008 and what we should want in 2009.

When a bank with $2.2 trillion in assets is saved from potential ruin, it is big news. So, as you can imagine, every one and his brother has a take on what went wrong at Citigroup and whether the solution to ‘fix’ Citi was the right one. Below are a number of the best links to commentaries around the blogosphere regarding Citi’s demise.