Citigroup | featured news

Another day, another new bank fee. As the uproar swelled over Bank of America Corp.'s planned $5 monthly charge for debit cards, megabank rival Citigroup Inc. was telling checking accounts holders that it would sock them with a $15 a month fee unless they maintain a balance above $6,000.

Moody's downgraded Bank of America's and Wells Fargo's long-term ratings and the short-term ratings of Citigroup, saying it believes the U.S. government is less likely to support the banks if needed.

Citigroup Inc said a cyber attack in May affected over 360,000 of its customers, or almost twice the initial number that the bank's figures had suggested. After a week of being pressured over its delayed disclosure of the data breach, the third largest U.S. bank by assets revealed more details in a statement late on Wednesday.

About 200,000 Citibank credit card customers in North America have had their names, account numbers and email addresses stolen by hackers who broke into Citi's online account site.

Moody's Investors Service said it may downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co, citing concerns about waning political willingness to offer support for the largest U.S. banks.

An arbitration panel ordered Citigroup Inc to pay a group of investors $54.1 million for losses from municipal securities funds that cratered between 2007 and 2008, the biggest award yet involving the funds in a long series of legal claims against the bank.

The names and e-mails of customers of Citigroup Inc and other large U.S. companies, as well as College Board students, were exposed in a massive and growing data breach after a computer hacker penetrated online marketer Epsilon.

Citigroup Inc saw several red flags in the dealings of Bernard Madoff's firm years before his multibillion-dollar fraud was exposed in late 2008, the firm's liquidator said in a newly unsealed lawsuit.

The Treasury Department will begin selling off the remaining 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup common stock the government holds as a result of aid provided to the bank during the financial crisis.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $100 million to Citigroup to settle all claims related to its $15-billion deal to acquire Wachovia in the midst of the financial crisis.