NEW YORK CITY

Tiffany & Co posted a lower quarterly profit on Monday, but trumped Wall Street's expectations, as the upscale jeweler kept a tight lid on costs to combat sharply lower sales, sending its shares up 13.1 percent.

The Dutch Finance Ministry will seek to curtail bonuses among senior management at financial companies receiving government support, while ING is asking some staff to give back their 2008 bonuses.

Tiffany & Co posted a lower quarterly profit on Monday, but trumped Wall Street's expectations, as the upscale jeweler worked to keep a tight lid on costs, despite being stung by lower sales in the period.

Tiffany & Co posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday but was stung in the period by lower sales and said it has not seen any signs of a turnaround.

Documents turned over to the Connecticut attorney general show that American International Group Inc paid out over $218 million in bonuses, more than the previously disclosed $165 million, published reports said on Saturday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc insists it did nothing wrong when it accepted payments to close out trades with American International Group before and after the insurer was rescued by the U.S. government last September, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar told reporters on Friday.

Moving with unusual speed, the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to recoup most of the $165 million in bonuses paid to American International Group Inc employees.

Moving with unusual speed, the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to recoup most of the $165 million in bonuses paid to American International Group Inc employees.

Some top employees of American International Group Inc's Financial Products group have agreed to return retention bonuses after mounting public outrage over the $165 million payout, the Wall Street Journal said.

Citigroup Inc awarded Chief Executive Vikram Pandit $10.8 million of compensation in 2008, a year in which the bank required two government rescues totaling more than $45 billion.

Citigroup Inc Chairman Richard Parsons said on Thursday that the bank does not need any more capital injections from the government and expressed confidence that Citi would remain in private hands.

Base salaries on Wall Street may double as a result of the public backlash over excessive bonuses, according to a report.

Citigroup was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and is confident about its capital strength after tough internal stress tests, according to a memo from Chief Executive Vikram Pandit obtained by Reuters.

Citigroup executives in Mexico have bough millions of shares in the beleaguered U.S. bank as a show of confidence, a spokesman for the bank' Mexican unit told Reuters.

Seoul shares are set to fall on Tuesday after big overnight losses on Wall Street on worseningfears about U.S. financials after insurer AIG posted a record quarterly loss, with eyes also on the sliding won.

U.S. stocks slid to 12-year lows on Monday as a record $61.7 billion loss for AIG and another government bailout for the insurer heightened concerns about the extent of the damage to the financial system.

U.S. stocks slid to 12-year lows on Monday as a record $61.7 billion loss for AIG and another government bailout for the insurer heightened concerns about the extent of the damage to the financial system.

American International Group Inc reported a $61.7 billion fourth-quarter loss on Monday, the largest quarterly loss in U.S. corporate history, after a revised rescue plan from the U.S. government.

Citigroup Inc is closing in on an agreement to boost the U.S. government's stake in it to as much as 40 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website, citing people familiar with the situation.

American International Group Inc may scrap a plan to repay a $60 billion U.S. government loan by selling businesses, after failing to find enough promising bidders, Bloomberg said, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Spy thriller Taken snatched the top box office spot this weekend, raking in $24.6 million and helping fuel the first $1 billion in January ticket sales in Hollywood history.