Government regulators will break up institutions whose failure would bring down the entire financial system, under an amendment Rep. Paul Kanjorski will introduce today.

Four boats seized by U.S. authorities from imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff and his right-hand man, Frank DiPascali, sold for nearly $2 million at auction on Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

A senior House Democrat says the government didn't force Bank of America to take over Merrill Lynch, but a bank board member said much pressure was applied and Republicans charged that a committee inquiry was covering up the role of an Obama administration official.

When you have an initial bid rejected as derisory it is probably not a good idea to come back with a lower offer expecting a big change of heart from your prey.

General Motors is already feeling the backlash of its decision not to sell European automaker Opel to Magna International, as workers in Germany went on strike.  GM faces not just ire over American-European cultural differences, but worker unease at job security, European-style.

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Keeping Opel is the best strategic option for General Motors given the improved economic conditions, but the automaker needs to appease German politicians' and trade unions anger over its about-face and adapt itself to German ways, European analysts said Wednesday.

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's longtime auditor has entered a guilty plea in a federal court in Manhattan.

Britain's two largest retail lenders have agreed to a massive shake-up of the UK banking sector that will see both sell hundreds of branches and key businesses to appease EU competition concerns over state aid.

Hedge fund firm Galleon Group, whose founder has been charged with insider trading, paid $250 million to its Wall Street banks last year and in return received market information that other investors did not get, the Financial Times reported.

Credit-rating agencies would be more tightly regulated under legislation approved on Wednesday by the House Financial Services Committee.

The linking of Advanced Micro Device's former top executive to the largest U.S. insider trading scheme in decades may raise questions about its business practices.

Galleon Group founder Raja Rajaratnam, accused in the biggest ever U.S. criminal prosecution of insider trading at a hedge fund, retained high- powered Washington lawyer John Dowd to represent him.

Billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz will be elected to Legg Mason's board, the U.S. asset manager said on Monday, in a move that would avoid a proxy fight for the next two years.

Galleon Group is winding down its hedge fund holdings, the company's embattled CEO Raj Rajaratnam said in a statement.