Associated Press

Sallie Krawcheck

Private banks like to say they put their clients first. But the resignation of Sallie Krawcheck from Citigroup shows that products often get first priority.

An article in today?s Wall Street Journal by my colleague David Enrich says Ms. Krawcheck–probably the highest-ranking woman on Wall Street–resigned over a spat with Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. Ms. Krawcheck was a fierce advocate for her clients, demanding the Citigroup reimburse wealthy clients who were sold bad investments like Citigroup’s in-house hedge funds and auction-rate securities.

“Ms. Krawcheck grew frustrated with Citigroup’s efforts to push the investment bank’s products through Smith Barney and the private bank, according to people familiar with the matter.”

Her opponents say Ms. Krawcheck was too provincial, focusing too narrowly on her own clients at the expense of the larger bank. And Citigroup has been better than many firms in reimbursing clients for their losses from hedge fund investments and purchases of auction-rate securities. At a time when Citigroup’s balance sheet is stretched, such measures are especially praiseworthy. Read more »

Backgrounds:

In Iran medical students are selected from high school graduates via a very competitive national
university entrance exam. New proposals have been seriously considered for admitting students from those with bachelor degrees. We assessed the opinions of different stakeholders on the current situation of admission into medicine in Iran, and their views on positive and negative aspects of admitting graduates into medicine.

Methods:

We conducted five focus group discussions and seven in-depth interviews with stakeholders including medical students, science students, university professors of basic sciences, medical education experts, and policy makers. Main themes were identified from the data and analyzed using content analysis approach.

Results: Read more »

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson said he and his Group of Seven counterparts had agreed to an “aggressive” plan to deal with a financial turmoil that has quickly ballooned into a “global event.” While the U.S. has come up with its own bank rescue plan, Paulson said other countries are considering options appropriate to their own situations. The $700 billion U.S. rescue plan will be used not only to buy and insure mortgage assets, but to buy equity in financial institutions, he said. “We are working to develop a standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions,” Paulson said. Here is the text of his statment:

Statement by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

Following Meeting of the G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

Washington, DC– At today’s meeting of the G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, we finalized an aggressive action plan to address the turmoil in global financial markets and the stresses on our financial institutions. This action plan provides a coherent framework that will direct our individual and collective policy steps to provide liquidity to markets, strengthen financial institutions, protect savers, and enforce investor protections. Read more »

The People’s Bank of China released the following statement on Saturday morning in response to the passage of the U.S. financial rescue package. China’s financial markets opened lower Monday after being closed last week for a national holiday.

The Chinese government has been closely following the development and consequences of the U.S. financial crisis. Recently, the U.S. government’s Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 has become a focus of world attention. President Hu Jintao has on many occasions said that China hopes for stability in U.S. financial markets and the healthy development of the U.S. economy, which is in the interests of the U.S. and in the interests of China, and is also beneficial to the healthy and stable development of the global economy.

We are pleased to see that, although there were some twists and turns, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have finally passed the bill. We hope that this bill can be speedily implemented and achieve positive results, in order to stabilize the U.S. and global financial markets and restore investor confidence. China and the U.S. share common interests in the stability of financial markets. China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the U.S., and also hopes that countries around the world can work together to overcome difficulties and preserve the stability of international financial markets.

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While Beijing is still basking in the afterglow of the Olympics, Forbes and the Economist have been looking further afield, and have ranked the business attractiveness of China’s bigger cities.

From Forbes (via China.org.cn):

Top Five:

1. Hangzhou
2. Shanghai
3. Wuxi
4. Nanjing
5. Ningbo

“Hangzhou was named the best place to do business in China for a fifth consecutive year in a Forbes survey…Shanghai came in at No 2, with Beijing remaining in sixth position for the second straight year. Wuxi was third, Nanjing fourth and Ningbo fifth.

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Naval leaders must execute two great tasks simultaneously: 1) fight today’s war; and 2) position themselves for an uncertain future. They also face additional pressures that charge them to be better stewards of taxpayer dollars, with greater efficiency leading to improved effectiveness.

This has led to the pursuit of the following Navy mission: creation of greater readiness and assets through lean six sigma (LSS) following a three-year action plan as outlined by the Secretary of the Navy, Donald Winter.

Winter has challenged leaders to set the tone by completing LSS green belt (GB) training, undertaking projects, and accelerating training in their organizations. Assistant Secretary of the Navy BJ Penn has completed GB training and started a LSS project. Chief of Naval Operations, Adm.

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