Bailouts, Bank Bailout | featured news

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.

Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac FMCC.OB said on Monday it would ask for an additional $1.5 billion from taxpayers due to losses stemming from the weak housing market.

American International Group, the insurer that sold off several major units in its effort to repay its 2008 bailout, plans to keep its once-troubled but now rapidly growing mortgage-insurance unit.

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said it would ask for an additional $5.1 billion from taxpayers as it continues to suffer losses on loans made prior to 2009.

Shares of American International Group Inc fell more than 3 percent on Wednesday after the insurer and the U.S. Treasury sold $8.7 billion worth of stock.

Taxpayers won't foot the bill for raises for the chief executives at any of the four firms—GM, Chrysler, AIG, Ally Financial—still receiving assistance under the federal bank bailout.

A federal watchdog criticized federal regulators' oversight of executive pay packages for top officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a report published Thursday. The top six executives at the mortgage giants earned $35 million in the last two years, according to the report from the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates the mortgage giants.

It would make sense for Portugal to seek aid from the European Union bailout fund, although such a decision will be caught up in domestic politics, European Central Bank Governing Board member Ewald Nowotny said.

The Obama administration on Friday released its long-awaited proposal for overhauling the mortgage market, calling for gradually shutting down bailed-out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reducing the government's now huge role in housing finance.

House Republicans say it is time to end a costly federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that has already cost taxpayers $150 billion.