Financial Crisis

Citigroup to lay off 100 employees in India

Mumbai: International banking major Citigroup on Tuesday said it will lay off 100 employees in India as part of its global restructuring exercise. None of the company's operations or verticals will be affected because of the lay-offs which will be carried out in the next few days, a spokesperson of Citigroup said. "Citigroup continuously reviews its internal processes and organisational structure to right size the organisation for efficient growth. As...

Stephen Roach: Disturbing the peace

Stephen Roach Profile: Member of the faculty of Yale University, and non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia. Known for: He is one of the most widely followed economists in the world, and the author of The Next Asia. The European Monetary Union was flawed from the start. Lacking in a unified fiscal framework, it was only a matter of when before an asymmetrical shock drew the grand experiment into question....

Satyajit links finance with popular culture

This is more like a book of history and quotations. How much of it is first hand reporting? Satyajit Das: I started this book in 2005. During the past six years, the entire financial crisis played out. A chunk of the book is first hand reporting. I did not want to write about the global financial crisis and preferred going back 40 years. Finance has become a different beat during...

Greek rivals try to hammer out power deal

Athens: Rival Greek political parties tried on Monday to hammer out a historic power-sharing deal to secure a euro130 billion ($179 billion) rescue package, but markets remained wary and European leaders kept up pressure by holding back a vital bailout loan. Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou and conservative leader Antonis Samaras, former college roommates in the US held fresh negotiations on the telephone on Monday, hours after reaching the landmark...

Pressure mounts on Italy's Berlusconi to quit

Rome: Italy became the latest target in Europe's financial crisis on Monday, as soaring borrowing rates intensified pressure on Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign and let a new government reform the country's spendthrift ways. Berlusconi batted away reports that he was considering stepping down in favor of early elections, saying they were "without foundation." But the prospect of financial disaster was real because of Italy's huge debts and slow growth....

Greek president to host talks with PM, Oppn

Athens: Greece's president is to convene a meeting between the country's embattled prime minister and the head of the main opposition party in an attempt to broker power-sharing talks and find a way out of a severe political crisis, as pressure mounts to ensure the country avoids bankruptcy. The president's office said the meeting would be held at 8:30 pm (1830GMT) on Sunday with the premier, George Papandreou, and opposition...

Greece talks under way in bid to avoid bankruptcy

Athens: Greek leaders struggled for a second day on Sunday to end an ongoing political crisis, under intense pressure to ensure the country doesn't go bankrupt in the next few weeks and that it remains in the eurozone. Embattled Prime Minister George Papandreou, who narrowly survived a parliamentary confidence vote on Saturday, has said he is prepared to step down once political leaders agree on an interim government to lead...

Greek PM Papandreou wins confidence vote

Athens: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a parliamentary confidence vote on Saturday, avoiding snap elections which would have torpedoed Greece's bailout deal and inflamed the euro zone's economic crisis. Papandreou's socialist government won with all his party lawmakers in the 300 member parliament supporting the government, but his term as prime minister appeared close to an end. Earlier Papandreou called for a new coalition government to approve the 130...

Greek PM calls for coalition, signals may quit

Athens: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called on Friday for a new coalition government to approve a bailout deal vital for saving the country from bankruptcy and tackling the euro zone's economic crisis, and signalled he was ready to stand down. Papandreou told parliament that he would go to the Greek president on Saturday to discuss formation of a broader-based government that would secure the 130 billion euro bailout, adding...

G-20 rejects extra help for debt-strappd Europe

Cannes: Europe failed to get the leaders of the world's wealthiest economies to help out with its debt troubles, but everyone left a G-20 summit on Friday relieved that at least they forced the Greek prime minister not to hold the world hostage with a bailout vote. It took a public berating of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and Greece's politics are in upheaval as a result, but the shaky...

Progress made on global economic recovery: Obama

Cannes: US President Barack Obama said on Friday the US economy is growing "way too slow" but that leaders at a world summit have made progress at getting their countries on a firmer footing. "Put simply, the world faces challenges that put our economic recovery at risk," Obama said in a news conference at the meeting of the 20 major developed and emerging economies as he promoted a jobs theme...

In or out: Europe heaps pressure on Greece

France: European leaders heaped pressure on Greece over its decision to hold a referendum on its latest bailout deal, calling it a vote on whether it wants to stay in the eurozone and vowing Athens would not get new rescue loans until the result was in. The acknowledgment that the vote, which will likely take place on December 4, could see Greece leave the currency union is the first official...

'India may consider financing bailout of Eurozone'

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday hinted at financing for sorting out Eurozone crisis after a credible assessment of solvency problem is made. "Our assessment of the situation is let them (Eurozone) make a credible assessment of solvency issue, try to sort out those problems and then after supplementary financing could be considered. Let us see what the leaders decide," he told. He was replying to a query...

Greek PM defies anger to defend referendum plan

Athens: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Wednesday he would push ahead with a referendum on an EU bailout deal, defying demands from lawmakers of his own party that he quit for jeopardising Greek membership of the euro. "The referendum will be a clear mandate and a clear message in and outside Greece on our European course and participation in the euro," Papandreou told a late-night cabinet meeting, according...

Greece to hold referendum on new debt deal

Athens: Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou on Monday said his troubled country will hold a referendum on a new European debt deal reached last week - gambling on a hard-bargained agreement that took months to hammer out. Papandreou appeared to take many lawmakers by surprise with the announcement. He gave no date or other details on the proposed referendum, which would be the first in Greece since 1974, when the...