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To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (367018)	4/29/2008 3:43:45 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

seen this? lesser of two evils and all...-g- Bank bail-outs to be kept secret Dan Atkinson, Simon Watkins, Mail on Sunday 27 April 2008, 8:59am The Bank of England has imposed a permanent news blackout on its £50bn-plus plan to ease the credit crunch. 'Lesser of two evils': The Bank of England will guard the names of credit-crunch banks with unprecedented levels of secrecy. Ferocious and unprecedented secrecy means taxpayers will never know the names of the banks that have been supported through the special liquidity scheme, which was unveiled by Bank Governor Mervyn King last week. Requests under the Freedom of Information Act are to be denied. Details will be kept secret even after 30 years - the period after which all but the most sensitive state documents are released. Any Bank of England employee leaking the names of institutions involved will face court action for breach of contract. Even a figure for the overall amount advanced will not be published until October. Meanwhile the Bank is expected to issue at least £50bn of Treasury bills to banks in exchange for their mortgages - entirely in secret. This hypersensitive official stance is thought to be a response to the events of last year when a huge stigma was attached to any lender suspected of going to the Bank for cash help. The scheme is intended to steady the markets, but it is feared that reports of banks making widespread use of the facility could trigger further instability. Barclays and HBoS have both confirmed they will use the Bank of England scheme. 'We welcome the Bank facility and we will participate in it,' confirmed Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBoS. Other banks declined to comment, but it is expected that this week all of the leading banks, with the exception of Lloyds TSB, will tender some of their mortgages to the Bank of England. HBoS confirmed last week it had packaged up £9bn of mortgages ready either for securitisation - in effect, selling them on in the wholesale financial markets - or to be offered to the Bank in return for Treasury bills. The scheme, drawn up by King and approved by Chancellor Alistair Darling, aims to improve banks' liquidity by temporarily swapping bundles of mortgages and credit card debt for Treasury bills, which are short-dated Government debt that matures within nine months. The scheme will run for three years so these bills will be replaced by new ones when required. Under the plan, bills will be exchanged only for securities rated triple-A - the highest possible grade of security - by at least two of the three big ratings agencies, Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. It would not normally be considered acceptable for big companies to arrange billions of pounds of financial support without telling their shareholders. But one source close to major institutional investors said: 'I can see why there may be a case for secrecy. 'It may be the lesser of two evils.' The £50bn or more of Treasury bills involved will dwarf the £17.6bn currently in issue, but the authorities are adamant this will not destabilise the Government debt market.

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (367018)	4/29/2008 4:37:11 PM
From: ldo79	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

got C - a/h not so fresh................ Press Release Source: Citigroup Inc. Citi Announces $3 Billion Common Stock Offering Tuesday April 29, 4:25 pm ET NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citi today announced it has commenced an offering of approximately $3 billion of common stock. Citi expects the offering to include an over-allotment option to purchase additional shares of common stock. The offering is being conducted as a public offering registered under the Securities Act of 1933. On a pro forma basis, after giving effect to Citi’s recent issuance of $6 billion of preferred stock and an assumed issuance of $3 billion of common stock in this offering, as of March 31, 2008, Citi’s Tier One capital ratio would have been approximately 8.5%. “We are issuing common equity at this time as we continue to optimize our capital structure,” said Gary Crittenden, Chief Financial Officer of Citi. “We're pleased with the strong interest we have already received regarding this issuance.” Citi Markets & Banking is serving as sole book-running manager of this offering.