MMC Marsh & McLennan completes sale of Kroll to Altegrity ($23.93)- MMC sold Kroll to Altegrity in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.13B.

C Citi to put Egg up for sale - FT ($4.13)- The FT cites people familiar with the situation who say that Citi plans to put its UK online bank up for sale as part of an effort to shed billions of dollars of non-core assets. According to analysts, Egg could draw interest from UK and international players, including Spain's Santander (STD) and Tesco's Metro Bank. Citi acquired Egg from Prudential (PRU.LN) three years ago for £575M.

BAC Bank of America spins off part of middle-market private-equity arm - FT ($14.34)- The bank has pushed Banc of America Capital Investors into Ridgemont Equity Partners, in which it is the only investor right now. A partner says the decision had been under discussion for a while, but a move was precipitated by last month's financial-reform bill in Washington. Sources say BAC also wanrs to concentrate on private-equity investments in large companies.

DFS Discover Financial US Spending Monitor falls 1.9 points in July to 86.5 ($15.54)- The third straight monthly drop involved 26% of consumers' saying they plan to cut their spending in the coming month, vs 23% in June. Nonetheless, people feel better about their finances, with 36% describing them as being in good or excellent shape, vs 33% in June. 21% of people feel their personal finances are improving, vs 20% in June.

TRV WSJ is positive on The Travelers Co ($50.12)- A "Heard on the Street" column can't figure out why Travelers trades at a lower multiple the JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), and regional banks. It points out that Travelers has a strong balance sheet, a 2.9% dividend yield and has cut outstanding shares by 20% over the past year. The column lists unsurprising reasons that banks are unattractive, and while it concedes that banks will outpace TRV if the economy suddenly recovers, it thinks that in a mediocre economy, TRV is easily the better choice.

o    Banks Continue to Suffer From Weak Revenue: Whitney – CNBC link

§  Meredith Whitney appeared on CNBC and was about as bearish as ever, not only on financials, but on housing as well. In addition to saying that she expects the housing market to get worse in Q3 and Q4, reiterated  that all the recent earnings beats by financials have been an accounting sham

o    End of the John Mack Era at Morgan Stanley – CNBC link

o    EU financials in focus…today

§  Lloyds beats….up 1.5% today

§  Soc Gen big beat on earnings

§  Standard Chartered Plc, fell as much as 4.9 percent in London trading….the U.K. bank that gets more than three quarters of its earnings from Asia, posted record six-month profit as provisions for bad loans fell by more than half.

§  Munich Re's earnings beat analyst estimates and company raised it outlook for gross premium revenues. Shares opened 1.1% after the results.

§   Legal and General opened up by 0.7% as company reported a growth in earnings

§  Allied Irish Banks Plc tumbled 6.3% to €0.925 after reporting a wider first-half loss.

§  Insurance companies mostly beat estimates today in EU:

·         Munich Re, beats est..better gains on investments.  

·         AXA dn 2% - beat ests…

o    Insurers May Face Shift on Payouts – WSJ

§  Insurers may face changes in the way they make payouts on life insurance, said state regulators who are leading a review of now-controversial money-market-like accounts for death benefits.

§  Currently, some insurers automatically put policy proceeds into so-called retained-asset accounts for some beneficiaries rather than giving them the option of a check for the full amount

§  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704499604575407713185368310.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_business

o    LAZ Lazard announces secondary offering on behalf of holders

o    McGraw dismisses claim that credit rating agencies caused the crisis

§  Harold "Terry" McGraw III, chairman and CEO of McGraw-Hill, which owns Standard & Poor's, challenged a charge by a Chinese credit rating agency that Western counterparts are responsible for the financial crisis. "If you're in a populist mood, you've got to find the villain," he told Financial Times. Google/Agence France-Presse (04 Aug.)

·         BAC and PNC may divest BLK BlackRock under Basel- Reuters

o    Bank of America and PNC Financial Services Group may be forced to sell their stakes in asset manager BlackRock under far-reaching rules proposed last week by the Basel Committee of Bank Supervision

o    The rules, known as the Basel III capital requirements, would effectively prevent banks from holding big stakes in other companies

o    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6724UX20100803