Wells Wins Wachovia , Zopa Closes U.S. Ops<< Citi/ Wells Extend Wachovia Talks, but Debt Clock Overwhelmed | Main | Details of the Fed's 9 Bank Bailout Plan Become Clear >> Ed Kountz | October 10, 2008, 09:24 AM Wells Fargo's bid for Wachovia is set to advance, now that Citigroup has said it will withdraw from talks and will not seek to hinder the Wells/ Wachovia merger. Citing differences too great to overcome, however, Citi has said that it intends to press ahead for punitive and compensatory damages (of up to $60 billion) as a result of the dispute. No relief in global markets, nor does any early-session boost appear likely for the U.S. Iceland's government has mentioned the b-word as a result of its banking meltdown--bankruptcy--and the Dutch are the latest to pump another round of money into their financial sector. And finally, the credit crunch has claimed a startup victim--P2P lender Zopa has announced that it will close its U.S. operation, which (unlike overseas operations) worked on generating leads for several small banking partners. Still, after just 10 months in the U.S., the announcement is notable. UK and Italian operations are not affected. CEO Doug Dalton said, in part: "Here are the facts: due to the extremely difficult consumer credit circumstances in the US, we made the decision to focus our ongoing efforts in the UK, Italy and Japan." |
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