Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Res Ipsa Loquitur

"Would you feel comfortable if your company sold off your pension plan to a big bank? This month, Citigroup Inc. got the green light from the [Fed] for an unususal deal to take over the $400-million retirement plan of a British newspaper company. In exchange for getting its hands on all that cash, Citigroup will run the pension plan--investing the money, paying the benefits and taking on the liability previously borne by Thompson Regional Newspapers. ... Ari Jacobs, head of the Retirement Benfits Advisory Group at Citigroup .. said Amercian employers seemed 'very interested in opportunities to reduce or eliminate the risks associated with their pension plans.' He added, "We in the U.S. are looking at a similar model' as the British deal ... 'As a financial institution, we believe we are better at managing financial risk than anybody else', Citigroup's Jacobs said. 'That's our core business", Los Angeles Times, 31 October.

That you Vox Baby for finding this. What can I say? The thing speaks for itself. What does KPMG think of Citigroup's risk management? What world does Helicopter Ben (HB) live in that he would permit this? Unless HB and Hank Paulson know Citigroup will use the pension assets to buy slices of MLEC?

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