Merrill Lynch executives subpoenaed over bonuses

The row over bankers' bonuses has intensified after subpoenas were issued to several top Merrill Lynch executives over payments for last year.
The executives, each paid more than $10m (£7m) in cash and stock, include Andrea Orcel, Merrill's top investment banker who is based in London, Thomas Montag, the head of global sales and trading, and Peter Kraus, the bank's former head of strategy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Andrew Cuomo, New York state's attorney general, is investigating whether the bonuses violated securities laws.

Merrill paid out billions of dollars in bonuses for 2008 – despite running up losses of $15.8bn in its fourth quarter and a loss of $27.6bn for the whole year.
The firm is now owned by Bank of America, which saved Merrill from collapse by agreeing to buy it. Bank of America has blamed John Thain, Merrill's former chief executive, for rushing through the bonus payments just before the investment bank's takeover by Bank of America was completed in September.

Thain has already been subpoenaed by Cuomo. Cuomo wants to know why $4bn of bonuses to Merrill staff were paid in December – earlier than the usual compensation round in January.
The bonuses are one of the reasons why Thain had to resign. He also apologized for spending $1.2m refurbishing Merrill's executive offices with antiques.
Meanwhile, the US liquidators of Lehman Brothers have asked Barclays to explain what happened to an estimated $3.3bn earmarked for bonuses and other liabilities that the British bank received when it acquired part of the collapsed Wall Street firm last year, the Financial Times reported today.


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FSA investigates Lehman-linked investor losses

The Financial Services Authority is investigating possible mis-selling of "capital secure" growth bonds linked to Lehman Brothers which caused major investor losses.

The FSA is examining promotional material issued for the structured products, which left some investors unaware that they were invested with Lehmans, and others that they had no comeback against the com-panies promoting the bonds or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Companies including NDF devised bonds linked to Lehman. These companies told investors on Lehman's collapse last September that they would be treated as creditors of the collapsed bank John McFall, chairman of the Treasury select committee, wrote to the FSA chief executive Hector Sants yesterday saying he believed it could be "a serious case of mis- selling in the financial services industry".


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Israeli foreign minister met new Palestinian PM

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Palestinian Prime Minster Salam Fayyad in Jerusalem on Sunday for the first time since the Palestinian leader took office, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
"The discussion dealt primarily with the situation in the Palestinian Authority and the ways of improving the lives of the residents in the territories while preserving Israeli security interests," Livni’s office said in a statement.

An official in Fayyad’s office said the meeting with Livni dealt with "broader political issues, not just removing a checkpoint here and there".
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah disbanded a Hamas-led government and appointed Fayyad as prime minister in an emergency government after Islamist Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip on June 14.
Livni and Fayyad, who also holds the foreign minister’s post, discussed "ways through which the Arab world could support the political process in a way that strengthens the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians," Livni’s office said.

Israeli officials said on Sunday that an Arab League delegation from Egypt and Jordan has proposed visiting Israel this week for long-delayed talks on an Arab peace initiative.

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Resolution under FSA investigation

Resolution Limited has revealed that the former chairman and executive directors of Resolution Plc - now Pearl Group - are under FSA investigation.
The directors under investigation include Resolution Ltd's current chairman Mike Biggs, who continues to lead the company, entrepreneur Clive Cowdery and executive directors Ian Maidens, Jim Newman and Brendan Meehan.
The investigation covers the period between October 2007 and May 2008, when the Resolution/ Pearl deal was being negotiated.

Resolution Ltd says it does not expect to complete any acquisitions under its role as a consolidator of life and other financial services sector opportunities until the investigation is complete, but it will continue to research opportunities.

The Resolution board has temporarily appointed Phil Hodkinson as senior independent director to chair a special committee comprising directors other than the chairman.
The current Resolution board includes former FSA chief executive John Tiner, but he is not one of the individuals under investigation.
Resolution completed a £600m stock market flotation in December 2008


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India's main opposition bloc loses key ally

India's main Hindu nationalists-led opposition bloc was dealt a blow after one of its oldest members pulled out weeks ahead of the April-May general election, analysts said on Monday
The move could benefit a loose conglomeration of smaller parties led by the communists.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which broke away from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the weekend, will tie-up with the communists in the eastern state of Orissa which it rules.
Talks between the BJD and BJP broke down after they could not agree on sharing seats in Orissa.
"The BJP was more interested to accommodate more of its candidates instead of considering win ability. They were rather adamant," said Damodar Rout, a BJD spokesman.

Analysts said the move could benefit the Third Front which is trying to build an alternative to the two main national alliances -- one led by the ruling Congress party and the other by the opposition BJP.
"It is a major setback to the BJP," said Swapan Dasgupta, a political analyst.
But the BJD's tie-up with the communists is only at the state level, Dasgupta said, leaving the party enough space for post-poll bargaining and an eventual return to the NDA alliance.
"The BJD has not yet said it is going to the Third Front," Dasgupta said. "So it would not be right to say that because they are with the communists by implication they are with the Third Front."
Orissa has 21 parliamentary seats, of which the BJD won 11 and the BJP seven in the 2004 general election.
Since then, the BJD has consolidated its position in local polls while the BJP has slipped. Analysts said they expected the BJD to fare better at the expense of the BJP and the Congress.
The BJD had been a partner of the NDA since 1998.



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