(Citigroup CEO) Pandit Says He'd Be Happy to Talk With Wall Street Protesters

[struggle4progress]

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Vikram Pandit, chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc., said he would be happy to talk with Occupy Wall Street protesters, calling their sentiments “completely understandable.”

“Trust has been broken between financial institutions and the citizens of the U.S., and that is Wall Street's job, to reach out to Main Street and rebuild that trust,” Pandit said today at a breakfast organized by Fortune magazine in New York.

Several hundred people tied to the movement marched on the New York City homes of Wall Street figures including billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson and JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon yesterday. Pandit, who bought a 10-room apartment on the Upper West Side for $17.9 million in 2007, said he would tell the protesters how Citigroup, the third-biggest U.S. bank, is trying to increase lending to small businesses.

“I'd talk about the fact that they should hold Citi and the financial institutions accountable for practicing responsible finance,” Pandit, 54, said. “I'd be happy to talk to them any time they want to come up.” ...

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LSYIQR1A74E901-7QF5AE8C49NHGV9LHKP9I3PM1D

[tridim]

1. So just go outside and talk to them.

:shrug:

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. "practicing responsible finance"

My head just exploded. A banking system that is willing to pay this guy $23 million THIS YEAR isn't capable of practicing responsible finance.

[denverbill]

3. We've tried to hold you accountable you asshole.

My suggestion would be a 90% tax on bank profits until the entire bailout is repaid, and banning bonuses until it's repaid as well.

Instead you decide to charge customers extra fees.

[girl gone mad]

7. The only way the banks can repay the bailouts..

is to jack up fees on their vanilla retail customers, front-run brokerage clients or squeeze consumers by creating artificial bubbles in commodities, etc.

This is a wholly parasitic industry. Profits to banks necessarily means the rest of the economy is losing money.

[Scuba]

4. Does that mean he's going to plead "guilty"?

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. Because "increasing lending to small businesses" is what OWS is all about...

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

6. Chanos Understands Wall Street Protest, Paulson Rejects

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Jim Chanos, founder of $6 billion hedge fund Kynikos Associates, and Bill Gross, who runs the world's biggest bond fund, joined top asset managers in voicing understanding for anti-Wall Street protests as they spread to Manhattan's Upper East Side, home to the city's financiers ...

“New York is so finance-centric that people here underappreciate the reaction of the rest of the country,” Chanos, who was born in Milwaukee, said yesterday in an interview in New York. “People are angry, they feel the game is rigged, that they didn't get their fair shake.” ...

Hedge-fund manager John Paulson, who became a billionaire by betting against the U.S. housing market and then profited from the recovery of banks, criticized the movement. His townhouse was among those targeted by marchers who left a fake tax-refund check made out for $5 billion on his doorstep, which was barricaded by police.

“Paulson & Co. and its employees have paid hundreds of millions in New York City and New York State taxes in recent years and have created over 100 high paying jobs in New York City since its formation,” the $30 billion hedge fund said yesterday in a statement. “Instead of vilifying our most successful businesses, we should be supporting them and encouraging them to remain in New York City and continue to grow.” ...

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LSX9YK6K50XZ01-7NNK6GV1PSACQGGRVVR5QAUC5E