Top Firm Turnaround Described As 'Impossible Feat'

Ms Whitney said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Monday that 'They (Citi) don't have the revenue power, they don't have the earnings power in so many of their businesses. Even Stephen Hawking could not pull this off'.

French newspaper L'Echos reports that Credit Agricole is said to be planning raising several billion dollars to beef up its balance sheet, following those $5.1bn asset writedowns over at investment banking arm Calyon.

Bloomberg reports that Fortis posted a first-quarter profit drop of 31% Tuesday. Net income fell to $1.26bn, following some $380m in additional credit portfolio writedowns.

The Times reports that activist investor Knight Vinke has accused HSBC of not biting the bullet and taking a full US subprime lending hit. The investor says that it feels that the bank is on the hook for an additional $30bn of writedowns.

Speaking at the UBS conference in New York Monday, JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon said that his firm would post lower earnings from investment banking this quarter. Lehman CFO Erin Callan, speaking at the same event, described the current quarter as 'very difficult', adding: 'I can't say that enough'. Ms Callan did, say, however, that the firm has gained market share in both capital markets and investment banking, although admitted that the M&A pie overall was shrinking due to the downturn.

Finally, The Wall Street Journal reports that Societe Generale posted a 23% drop in first-quarter earnings Tuesday. Net income came in at $1.71bn, after an additional $1.8bn in writedowns at the investment banking unit. Profit at that unit came in 79% down at $215m.