CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wall Street firms are in a quandary about getting involved with a planned public offering of Russian aluminum producer UC RUSAL because its founder has been barred from getting a U.S. visa on account of allegations that he is connected to organized crime, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

MaxLinear Inc., a maker of TV tuners, is planning to go public.

One of the federal government’s most opaque methods for bailing out the banking system allowed a handful of giant institutions to save up to $25 billion on their borrowing costs, a Congressional panel estimated on Friday.

Citigroup Inc. filed plans for an initial public offering of its Primerica Inc. life insurance unit late Thursday, and said it will sell the rest of the unit after it goes public.

Genealogy Web site Ancestry.com has succeeded in raising $100 million in its initial public offering. With more than a million paying subscribers, little competition, a small debt load and a record of increasing revenue, it fared better than other IPOs that have recently priced below their filing ranges.

Ford Motor Co. has expanded its capital raising plans, now selling $2.5 billion worth of senior convertible debt, up from a previous planned offer of as much as $2.3 billion.

Billionaire Warren Buffett decided he did not need investment bankers when he negotiated his rapid takeover of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp even as the railroad was represented by veteran banker Roger Altman's boutique firm Evercore as well as Goldman Sachs.

The nation's biggest banks face a February deadline for submitting employee compensation plans to the Federal Reserve, according to people with knowledge of the process.

Italian news reports say Premier Silvio Berlusconi is seeking to postpone the resumption of his fraud trial in Milan.

Ford Motor Co. said Monday it will ask its lenders for extra time to repay at least some of the $10.1 billion borrowed under a line of credit, and will sell about $3.3 billion in stock and convertible debt to raise more cash.

Bill Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve, summoned 28 CEOs of the nation’s top banks toon Monday to reinforce the principles that were outlined in a proposal by the Fed on compensation issued on October 22.

This city's most popular neighborhoods are night owls, streets that come alive when the restaurants and pubs set the mood and light their candles. But try parking in these hot spots: no fun.

By Jonathan Spicer and Daisy Ku

By Daisy Ku

BOSTON (Reuters) - 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.