HACKERS BREAK IN CITIGROUP INC.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hackers stole account  details of much more than 360,000 of Citigroup Inc.’s U.S. credit card customers in a current data breach, the bank mentioned Wednesday, virtually double the number at first believed.

…..item 1)…..Yahoo! News beta….Citigroup says 360,000 affected by hackers

By KELVIN CHAN – AP Organization Writer | AP – 1 hr 45 mins ago……Thursday June 16, 2011

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HONG KONG (AP) — Hackers stole account info of more than 360,000 of Citigroup Inc.’s U.S. credit card buyers in a current data breach, the bank mentioned Wednesday, virtually double the range at first believed.

Citi stated final week that about 1 % of its credit card buyers had account data hacked online but did not say exactly how many. The actual quantity of customers impacted was believed to be about 200,000, based on Citi’s 2010 annual report, which mentioned the company had roughly 21 million North American credit card consumers.

But the true quantity was in fact 360,083, the bank said in a statement posted on its web site late Wednesday.

The bank stated it found on Might ten that hackers utilised its Account Online method to access the information for North America Citi-branded credit cards issued in the U.S.

The bank said final week that hackers accessed client names, account numbers and speak to information, such as e-mail addresses.

But they weren’t capable to get their hands on social security numbers, dates of birth, card expiration dates or card security codes, details that can be useful in identity theft.

Internal fraud alerts and enhanced monitoring were positioned on all accounts deemed at threat as soon as the breach was found, Citi mentioned.

Letters have been sent commencing June three to men and women impacted, and 217,657 customers have also been sent new cards, Citi stated. Replacement cards had been not sent to the other individuals because the accounts were closed or they had currently been sent new cards for other good reasons.

Citi mentioned it has notified police and government officials.

&quotFor the security of our buyers, and due to the fact of the ongoing law enforcement investigation, we can not disclose further details relating to how the data breach occurred,&quot it said.

Citi reassured consumers that they weren’t liable for any unauthorized use of their cards and urged them to evaluation account statements to report any suspicious transactions.

It’s the most current in a series of substantial-profile data attacks against big organizations and institutions. The International Monetary Fund stated Sunday that it was investigating an attack on its laptop or computer technique.
Google Inc. said earlier this month that Gmail accounts of numerous hundred individuals had been breached. In April, Sony Corp.’s Playstation Network was the victim of a enormous safety breach that impacted more than 100 million on the web accounts.

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No guesswork, get the facts on retirement planning

IF YOU are over 30, you may recall a time when a regular loaf of bread cost less than $3; when thousands of dollars could buy property; and 'billion' was an abstract monetary concept for most people.

To say then that money in 2011 isn't what it used to be, is to state the obvious. The economists among us will quickly point to the factors at play, beginning with inflation and its degenerative effect on the cash you have in hand, or in the bank. Simply defined, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services over a period of time. Housewives understand its power to increase the food bill and, by extension, shrink their purchasing power. Nowadays, financial planners develop formulae to estimate the impact inflation will have on your money in 15 or 30 years' time, a most useful tool for effective retirement planning.

The ability to calculate how much it will cost to maintain a certain lifestyle in the future, is also an essential part of planning for retirement, says Sydney McLennon, assistant vice-president for private clients and portfolio management at Capital & Credit Merchant Bank.

"Every effective retirement plan begins with an estimation of how much you will need to cover your expenses once you stop collecting that monthly pay cheque. From what you tell us, we can determine what you want your lifestyle to be and how much it will cost."

The banking executive said the process involves a formula that takes into account what your interests and needs are likely to be once you turn 65, making allocations for an increase in areas such as health care, where the need is often greater after retirement. "We factor in inflation, your change in needs and lifestyle and create a dollar figure, say $80,000 monthly. We now bring back that money to today's reality and work out what it will cost you on a monthly basis to attain that $80,000 per month in the future," McLennon explains.

The calculation may sound complicated, but the success of your retirement plan and the size of your nest egg depend on some basic things, not least of which are the tools you use to grow your retirement fund, and how well the money is managed.

For many employees, there are pension schemes to which they can contribute, often through salary deduction. But according to McLennon, that pension fund, by itself, is unlikely to provide enough once you leave the world of work.

"Although it's efficient and good, that's just one part of the puzzle. You need to be creating a portfolio where your pension fund is a part of that portfolio," asserts McLennon, pointing to the wisdom of having a diverse mix of products, including real estate, stocks, bonds and even commodities.

For those persons who are not already a part of a registered pension scheme, McLennon recommends an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), considered one of the best instruments to save for retirement.

"The Capital & Credit IRA is extremely flexible. You can start at $1,000 and decide when you want your pension contributions made, whether monthly, quarterly or annually, making it in line with your ability to earn so it won't be so burdensome."

IRA holders may set aside no more than 20 per cent of their taxable income, as stipulated by current pensions regulations. Funds kept in an IRA are tax free, which makes it especially attractive. McLennon explains, though, that only those persons who are not already part of a pension scheme can open an IRA.

"Regardless of whether you're already part of a superannuation fund or self employed, we are ready to start that conversation with you."

Don't wait another moment. Get the facts and the advice you need today and begin to plan carefully for your retirement.

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Spain Approves Pension Bill in Bid to Woo Investors

The Spanish government agreed to raise the retirement age in a renewed bid to restore investor confidence after a 20 billion-euro ($27 billion) plan to shore up savings banks failed to tame the nation’s borrowing costs.

Four months after Spanish workers disrupted transport and broadcasts in a general strike aimed partly at the pension plan, the Cabinet approved a bill to increase the retirement age to 67 from 65, Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters in Madrid today. The government, unions and employers reached an agreement earlier today after late-night talks on the bill and changes to wage-bargaining.

Spain’s worst economic crisis in six decades and a jobless rate of 20 percent have quickened the pace at which the social- security system is eating into its surplus. Europe’s debt crisis has also added urgency to the overhaul that comes as lenders including La Caixa, the nation’s second-biggest savings bank, reorganize in response to new capital requirements.

“It’s a pass,” Antonio Garcia Pascual, an economist at Barclays Capital in London, said of the pension bill. “It’s not outstanding but it has the three key ingredients.”

Spanish Labor Minister Valeriano Gomez told reporters today that the pension bill doesn’t aim to cut retirement benefits and its objective is to “stabilize” spending. The government will revise the parameters of the pension system every five years after 2027 to reflect changes in life expectancy, according to a statement from his ministry.
Bond Yields

Ten-year Spanish bonds yielded 230 basis points more than comparable German securities today, up from 229 yesterday and 209 on Jan. 24 when Finance Minister Elena Salgado unveiled the savings-bank plan. The plan features a minimum core-capital requirement of 8 percent that rises to as much as 10 percent for lenders without private investors.

Responding to the new rules, La Caixa said late yesterday it will hand its banking business over to its listed investment unit Criteria CaixaCorp SA, and turn that company into a commercial bank. The shares rose 21 percent at 1 p.m. in Madrid.

The government, fighting to slash the euro region’s third- largest budget deficit to 6 percent of gross domestic product this year from around 9 percent in 2010, had pledged to approve the pension bill today. Salgado said talks with unions can continue as the legislation goes through parliament, where the minority government needs support from smaller parties.
Lawmaker Approval

“It’s a law so it has to go through parliament and in that process it will be possible of course to make small changes,” Salgado said in an interview on TVE on Jan. 26.

The bill allows workers who have paid into the social- security system for 38 1/2 years to retire at 65 years with a full pension rather than the new limit of 67 years, Gomez said. Gomez said the government will also increase the number of working years used to calculate pension benefits to 25 years from 15 years, doing so gradually from 2013 to 2023.

“They didn’t change much to get the unions on board, but the starting point could have been more ambitious,” economist Garcia Pascual said. “The transition is a bit too generous, but pension costs will spike years from now” and for the moment they are “below those of Germany and France.”

Spain spent 95.7 billion euros on contributions-based pensions in 2010, almost 10 percent of GDP. Forty percent of this year’s spending will go to social security as the nation grapples with Europe’s highest jobless rate, according to the budget law. The unemployment rate rose to 20.3 percent in the fourth-quarter, the National Statistics Institute said today.
Pension Benefits

Last year, the difference between employed workers’ social- security contributions and contribution-based pension benefits turned negative, according to data from the Labor Ministry, even as the system posted a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP, helped by interest earned on a 60 billion-euro reserve fund.

That shortfall emerged five years earlier than expected due to job losses and demographic factors, said Javier Diaz-Gimenez, a professor at IESE Business School who has written on pensions. Without changes, the debt needed to fund the pension deficit would amount to 190 percent of GDP by 2050, he estimates.

“Small, gradual changes in the Spanish system do not solve the problem,” he said by phone. “It’ll be disappointing because they won’t announce a fundamental reform.”

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who once pledged to keep raising pensions, has made a policy U-turn since the Greek debt crisis prompted a surge in borrowing costs. Voters and traditional union allies have been alienated by cuts to public wages and social benefits, changes to labor rules and measures to support banks. The agreement reached with unions was the first since the Sept. 29 general strike.

The Socialists, facing regional and local elections in May, would win 18 percent of the vote if general elections were held now, with the opposition People’s Party on 49 percent, according to a poll in El Mundo on Jan. 2. Zapatero will announce this fall that he won’t seek re-election in March 2012, La Vanguardia newspaper reported yesterday.

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