PARIS: In the latest wave of retrenchment by global banks, ING Group, the Dutch financial services company, said Monday that it would cut 7,000 jobs this year and that its chief executive would step down as it sought government guarantees for toxic mortgage debt. Its European peers Barclays and BNP Paribas sought to reassure investors about their 2008 earnings to ease concerns about their health, and shares of all three banks soared. The announcements Monday came as the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said he would invite top executives of the world's largest banks to London to confer on the global financial crisis in advance of a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging economies to be held April 2 in the British capital. Brown said that the government would propose a "charter of principles" governing financial institutions and that "the measures that then flow from that, whether in relation to hedge funds or derivatives or other financial products, will be in line with principles of transparency and proper disclosure and people assessing and managing their risks."
PARIS: In the latest wave of retrenchment by global banks, ING Group, the Dutch financial services company, said Monday that it would cut 7,000 jobs this year and that its chief executive would step down as it sought government guarantees for toxic mortgage debt.
Its European peers Barclays and BNP Paribas sought to reassure investors about their 2008 earnings to ease concerns about their health, and shares of all three banks soared.
The announcements Monday came as the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said he would invite top executives of the world's largest banks to London to confer on the global financial crisis in advance of a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging economies to be held April 2 in the British capital.
Brown said that the government would propose a "charter of principles" governing financial institutions and that "the measures that then flow from that, whether in relation to hedge funds or derivatives or other financial products, will be in line with principles of transparency and proper disclosure and people assessing and managing their risks."
