AIG sells private bank to Abu Dhabi firm for $254m

American International Group, the insurer bailed out by the US government, agreed to sell a bank unit catering to wealthy clients in Asia and the Middle East to Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments PJSC for $254 million. The payment for AIG Private Bank is subject to adjustments based on asset values when the deal closes, Aabar said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse. Aabar, which is majority-owned by Abu Dhabi's state-controlled International Petroleum Investment Co., will also assume loans of as much as $83 million. AIG is selling businesses including life and retirement services and a plane lessor to repay a government loan that saved it from bankruptcy in September. (Bloomberg)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will eliminate about 9,200 jobs at the former Washington Mutual Inc., which on Sept. 25 became the largest US bank to fail. The cuts amount to more than 21 percent of the workforce at Washington Mutual, which ended June with 43,198 employees. Washington Mutual was the largest US savings and loan before JPMorgan bought its banking assets for about $1.9 billion in a transaction arranged by US regulators. The holding company for Washington Mutual later filed for bankruptcy protection. About 4,000 of the jobs will be cut by the end of January, and another 5,200 later, a JPMorgan spokeswoman said. (Reuters)

Federal Trade Commission rules are in effect that order telemarketing calls recorded in advance - also known as robocalls - from businesses or charities to include ways to opt out of future calls. Consumers are already supposed to be protected from unsolicited commercial calls if they're on the national Do Not Call registry, but calls from businesses with which consumers have a relationship (they've bought something from them, inquired about their products or services, and so on) are permitted. Also, calls from legitimate charities are allowed. Under the new rules, a prerecorded message has to give the consumer a way to cut off the business or charity call - and ban future calls from the same source - by pressing a particular number or saying a word. (Los Angeles Times)

Citigroup Inc., which is planning to eliminate 52,000 jobs and trim costs in the next year, dropped a portion of the severance payment offered to employees who have been at the bank for at least a decade. US employees with 10 years or more of experience fired after Jan. 15 are losing the supplemental severance payment that would add weeks of base pay to their package, according to a memo from Paul McKinnon, the bank's head of human resources. A spokeswoman declined to say how many workers would be covered by the policy. Citigroup Inc. chief executive Vikram Pandit is cutting jobs and reducing costs as loan losses climb and the global economy falters. (Bloomberg)

Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said its new chief financial officer, David Johnson, will make an annual salary of $625,000, slightly less than his predecessor. Fannie Mae said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that his pay package will consist of the $625,000 salary, plus a cash bonus and a long-term incentive plan that will vest over two years. (AP)

Timothy Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be Treasury secretary, will soon step down from his current post as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed said it has created a search committee to select his successor. Now that he's been tapped for the Treasury post, Geithner won't participate in decisions on interest rates and other matters by the Federal Open Market Committee. (AP)

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the largest bank controlled by the UK government, said it will wait at least six months before foreclosing on delinquent mortgages. The waiting period applies to all homeowners, including those already late on payments, the bank said. The policy will remain in place until at least the end of 2009, the Financial Times reported. The bank, which has a 7 percent share of Britain's mortgage market, sold a 58 percent stake to the government when it raised $31 billion in new capital last week. (Bloomberg)