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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A network of lenders, brokers and opaque financing vehicles outside traditional banking that ballooned during the bull market now is under siege as regulators threaten a crackdown on the so-called shadow banking system.Big brokerage firms like Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers , Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch, which some say are the biggest players in this non-bank financial network, may have the most to lose from stricter regulation. The shadow banking system grew rapidly during the past decade, accumulating more than $10 trillion in assets by early 2007. That made it roughly the same size as the...

Facing a credibility crisis with investors, Lehman Brothers Holdings has replaced its president and chief financial officer, showing that the bloodletting on Wall Street is far from over. Lehman chief executive Richard Fuld, the longest-serving head of a major Wall Street firm, removed Joseph Gregory, a life-long friend, as his No2 and demoted Erin Callan, Lehman's finance chief and the highest-ranking woman on Wall Street. Ms Callan had taken over as chief financial officer only in December and quickly assumed a high-profile role, countering Lehman's critics by going on TV and eagerly engaging questions about the firm. But instead of...

Lehman seeking overseas capital, eyes Korea: report 1 hour, 55 minutes ago Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is looking to raise capital overseas and has approached at least one investor in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Lehman shares fell 9.5 percent to near a five-year low on Tuesday on concerns that it may need to raise more capital. According to the newspaper, options for Lehman in Korea include the state-run Korea Development Bank and Woori Financial Group Korean Investment Corp (KIC), a sovereign wealth fund that manages about $20 billion and is an investor in Merrill Lynch...

March 22, 2008 Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers face downgrading Tom Bawden in New York Profits at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers could deteriorate significantly this year if the turmoil sweeping the capital markets persists, a leading research agency said yesterday. Standard & Poor's (S&P) gave warning that it might cut the credit ratings on both investment banks, lowering the outlook on Goldman and Lehman from “stable” to “negative”. That comment, which coincided with reports of looming job losses at Goldman, could result in higher borrowing costs and a fall in the banks' shares. S&P praised Goldman Sachs for producing...

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Monday said the bank's liquidity position remains strong, as the fire sale of Bear Stearns to J.P. Morgan to prevent bankruptcy increased speculation that other big U.S. brokerages would come under pressure. "Our liquidity position is and continues to be strong," said Matthew Russell, head of corporate communications for Lehman Brothers Asia Pacific. His statement came after people familiar with the situation said DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's biggest bank by market capitalization, has asked several traders not to enter new transactions with Lehman Brothers.

NEW YORK - This might have been one of Wall Street's most dismal years in a decade, but that hasn't stopped bonus checks from rising an average of 14 percent. Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. — will pay out about $49.6 billion in compensation this year. Of that, bonuses are traditionally estimated to represent 60 percent, or almost $30 billion. But that might not sit well with investors who held on to investment bank stocks this year _ and watched them plunge by...

Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), Tuesday denounced Lehman Brothers for apologizing for its alleged links to slavery, warning that such apologies, without legal or moral merit, will only embolden slave reparations activists to advance their unjust agenda. The bank, responding to a Chicago ordinance that requires companies to disclose slave-related business dealings, issued the apology after discovering that the brothers who founded the firm's predecessor in 1850 owned slaves. Joe Polizzotto, general counsel of Lehman Brothers, said, "This is a sad part of our heritage...We're deeply apologetic." Flaherty called the company's decision an act...

CHICAGO (AP) Almost 150 years after Andrew Jackson Hurdle was torn away from his family and put on the auction block as a 9-year-old slave, his daughter is seeking justice for him. Hannah Hurdle-Toomey, 71, of Belleville, signed on as one of two people from Illinois named in a class-action lawsuit seeking reparations from 19 companies that they say benefited from the slave trade. The other is Marcelle Porter, a 74-year-old Chicago woman who said her great-grandmother was a slave in North Carolina. A Jan. 26 hearing is scheduled in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Judge Charles Norgle could dismiss...

The City Council champion of the slave reparations movement demanded Monday that Carole Brown apologize to African Americans or step down as CTA board chairwoman for "allowing herself to be used" to defend a financial services firm with past ties to slavery. Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) said it's insensitive and insulting for Brown, senior vice president of Lehman Brothers, to suggest that "the Lehman Brothers in the 1850s is not the company that it is today." Brown made the statement after the company she works for became the first city contractor to admit past ties to slavery. "She should have...

Celebrating 80 Years with Shimon Peres "The Marking of Peres' 80th Birthday is an opportunity to look forward with the man who has his feet firmly planted on the ground as his vision sails to the future." THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF PERES 80 -------------------------------------------------------- THE OFFICE OF SHIMON PERES AND THE PERES CENTER FOR PEACE Contact: YORAM DORI - Beeper: 972-3-610-6666 code: 45544 YAEL LOTAN - LOTAN COMMUNICATIONS E-mail: lotan@lotan.org.il ALIZA GOREN E-mail: aliza@gorenco.co.il JOEL LEYDEN - LEYDEN COMMUNICATIONS (Israel) E-mail: media@leyden.net LINDA RIVKIND - Government Press Office E-mail:lrivkind@netvision.net.il WHY A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR SHIMON PERES? Tel Aviv----September 20……The Israeli...

<p>NEW YORK  — The Securities and Exchange Commission is to file suit against Lehman Brothers (LEH) Internet stock analyst Holly Becker and her husband, Michael Zimmerman, on charges of insider trading based on her firm's research, cable television channel CNBC reported on Wednesday.</p>

Filed at 9:42 p.m. ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - On the day the Anaheim Angels clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 16 years, the Walt Disney Co. hired an investment bank to market the baseball team and the Mighty Ducks hockey franchise to potential buyers. Disney has long discussed selling the two sports teams to a buyer who would keep them in Anaheim but the entertainment giant's announcement on Thursday that it had retained Lehman Brothers marked a firm step toward that goal. ``Lehman is the investment broker that is looking for a buyer as of this...