Despite a year plagued by lawsuits and fretting over the cost of regulation, financial firms have performed solidly in the stock market during 2012. In fact, the sector as a whole has rebounded from being the worst industry to invest in during the past few years, to the best, posting remarkable gains. While the stocks remain far from their all time highs, we see solid growth in the past twelve months. After falling 18 percent in 2011, financial stocks are on track for their largest gain in nine years,... 

Former Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) director Raj Rajaratnam has settled the civil suit pending against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The former director continues his prison sentence for insider trading, but has a litany of lawsuits still pending against him. Rajaratnam, convicted last year of trading on inside information from 2003 through 2009, will pay nearly $1.45 million to settle a civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to court documents. A federal... 

Stock options have long been a key compensation metric for executives in the banking sector – although falling stock prices in recent years have limited some exercising, the rebound in stock prices are putting many of those options back in the money. Recent securities filings show that is especially true at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), where Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein and President Gary D. Cohn exercised more 10-year-old stock options, boosting their total gains to more than $5 million... 

RIM (NYSE: RIM) shares have enjoyed an unlikely rebound this year. Following the release of third quarter results, investors were surprised by the positive results and strong cash flow positions, which sent the stock price up. Now, an upgrade from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) are pushing the price even higher. RIM advanced 4 percent to $11.54 in New York yesterday. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s shares have gained 46 percent since the end of October and advanced on 10 of the last 11 trading... 

Earlier this year, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein announced the creation of a private bank-within-a-bank to serve its wealthiest customers. At the time, Blankfein went out of his way to say that Goldman wouldn’t be pitching credit cards or giving away toasters, a knock at the historical client recruitment strategy for many commercial banks. On Friday, Financial Times reported that the firm has filed paperwork with its New York regulator to open a London... 

China’s economic growth for the past decade has been far above the world average, and significantly faster than key counterparts in Europe and the United States. However, the near 10% annual growth they have enjoyed may soon be coming to an end, if forecasts out of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) are correct. Jim O’Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management expects China’s economy to grow at a much slower pace of about seven percent over the next decade, but its stock... 

A nantional deal will help some of the homeowners that were hurt by shady bank lending practtices. February 9, 2012- Final issues are being hammered out in a settlement between state attorney generals and major banks over the faulty foreclosures that have taken place. The settlement of over $25 billion is pending the signing of holdouts New York and California to complete the deal.  It is expected that on Thursday the nationwide plan will be announced to help close to two million homeowners who...