• Government officials—the people who essentially run Citigroup these days—have had talks about replacing CEO Vikram Pandit. About time! [FT]
• UBS is considering selling all or part of its hedge funds business. [Reuters]
• The Treasury Department's plan to rescue banks by having the government link up with private investors is "inherently vulnerable to fraud," says a government investigator, which is not very reassuring news. [WSJ, NYT]
• All the financial institutions that reported better-than-expected results may have also undermined investors' confidence in the sector. [NYT, DB]

• The M&A market appears to be back in business. On Monday, 10 deals totaling more than $27 billion were announced. [FT]
• Banks are cutting back on their campaign contributions. [BN]
• The Treasury Department says $109.6 billion remains of the $700 billion that was originally set aside to rescue financial institutions. [AP]
• U.S. and European banks need to raise $875 billion in equity by next year to recapitalize banks to a level similar to the pre-crisis years. [WSJ]
• The recession will persist through the summer, at least according to one new economic report. [Reuters]