Finance

Bank of America May Name Stopgap CEO to Allow Board More Time for Search Bank of America Corp.’s board may extend its search for a permanent new chief executive officer into 2010 if directors can’t settle on a candidate in the next three days, according to people familiar with the matter.

Goldman Quarterly Earnings Estimate Raised 15% by Hintz on Lower Pay Costs Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s fourth- quarter earnings-per-share estimate was raised 15 percent by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Brad Hintz, who said he expects the firm to reduce its compensation expense.

Lehman, Bear Executives' $2.4 Billion Tied to Risk-Taking in Harvard Study Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. executives made $2.4 billion from 2000 to 2008, a sign pay policies may have encouraged risk-taking that doomed the companies, a Harvard University study said.

People's United To Buy Financial Federal for $738 Million in Cash, Stock People’s United Financial Inc., the Connecticut lender that had $2.5 billion earmarked for acquisitions, agreed to buy Financial Federal Corp. for $738 million in cash and stock to expand in equipment financing.

SEC to Focus on Derivatives as Insider-Trading Probe Widens, Khuzami Says The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will focus on financial instruments such as derivatives as it broadens a crackdown on insider trading by hedge funds, enforcement director Robert Khuzami said.

British Would-Be Borrowers Resist Approved Bank Credit as Loan Demand Dips A year ago, as Britain’s property market began to collapse, housebuilder Persimmon Plc owed 960 million pounds ($1.6 billion). Today, Chief Financial Officer Michael Killoran has slashed that debt by 58 percent.

BBVA, UBS, Citigroup Among Banks With Weakest Capital, S&P Research Shows Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG are among the banks with the weakest capital, according to analysis by Standard & Poor’s that seeks to iron out differences in reporting.

Banks Should Not Be Singled Out Over Pay, RBS Markets Finance Chief Says Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s global banking and markets finance chief said he disagrees with U.K. government moves to boost pay disclosure, and banks shouldn’t be singled out.

Lloyds Banking Group Will Issue as Much as $13 Billion of CoCo Securities Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender, will issue about $13 billion of enhanced capital notes, new bonds designed to boost the bank’s ability to absorb losses.

Televisa Plans to Sell $400 Million of 30-Year Bonds as Early as Today Grupo Televisa SA, the world’s largest Spanish language broadcaster, plans to sell $400 million of 30-year bonds in overseas markets as early as today, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Industrial Bank Plans to Raise $2.6 Billion From Rights Offer of Shares Industrial Bank Co. plans to raise 18 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in 2010 in the third-largest share sale announced by a Chinese lender this year to ensure it has enough capital to meet increasing loan demand.