G-7 Countries Join Hands to Halt Yen Rise: For the first time since 2000, when the G-7 countries came together to rescue a sinking euro, the US, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and France joined hands to concerted intervention in exchange markets in order to halt the unwelcome rise in the value of Japanese yen. According to Japan's finance ministry, for the first time since September 2010, the dollar rose as high as 82 yen from a low 79.19 yen. Before and after the massive earthquake, Japanese manufacturers were complaining that a higher yen was hurting the country's exports. Japanese finance minister Yoshihiko Noda states that the Japanese authorities have not set a specific level for the yen.
China asks Banks to Arrest Inflation: China has asked the country's premier banks to set aside more cash for the third time this year to curb the rising inflation. Terming inflation as the biggest threat to the world's second-largest economy, Premier Wen Jiabo said that the country's top priority is to tame inflation as it may cause risks to social stability. China is set to follow India's policy of raising interest rates and tighten the monetary policy. According to statistic bureau, consumer prices in the country rose at an annual 4.9 percent in February 2011 and producer prices jumped 7.2 percent during the same period. According to the governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan, the new interest rates will help in curbing inflation and slow down the role of currency gains.
FDIC to Sue Top Executives of WaMu: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has declared that it plans to sue former Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger, former President Stephen Rotella and COO David Schneider for illegally moving cash and houses into trusts to shield the assets from legal claims. FDIC also intends to sue wives of Killinger and Rotella for the same. FDIC states that the top executives gambled millions of dollars on high-risk home loans to maximize their own compensation resulting in the biggest bank failure in the US history. It states that Rotella transferred more than one million dollars to his wife's account after WaMu was seized in September 2008. The three executives have termed the suit as baseless and unworthy of the government.