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Citigroup to pay $158M to settle mortgage claims

Citigroup has agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle claims that its mortgage unit duped the U.S. government into insuring risky mortgage loans over a six-year period. Citi Mortgage certified 30,000 mortgages for insurance provided by the Federal Housing Agency and submitted many certifications that were "knowingly or recklessly false." More than a third went into default, resulting in millions of dollars in losses.

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Kellogg buying Pringles from P&G for $2.7 billion

Kellogg Co. agreed to acquire Procter & Gamble Co.’s Pringles potato chip business for $2.7 billion in cash in order to triple its global snacks sales after a deal with Diamond Foods Inc. fell through. The transaction will reduce Kellogg’s earnings this year by as much as 16 cents a share.

Will a non-American lead the World Bank for the first time?

World Bank President Robert Zoellick is stepping down, raising the possibility that a non-American might be chosen for the first time to direct the 187-nation lending organization. Zoellick, 58, said he will leave June 30 at the end of a five-year term. New guidelines governing a search adopted in 2011 suggest there will be a break from the informal agreement that dates to the bank’s founding 68 years ago, under which the bank’s president is an American and the head of its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, is a European.

Home Builder index of buying sentiment on 5-month upswing

U.S. homebuilders are growing more optimistic about the depressed housing market and believe home sales could pick up sharply when the spring buying season begins. The National Association of Home Builder said its sentiment index rose for a fifth straight month in February to 29, up from 25 in January. The index has climbed 15 points since September and is at its highest level since May 2007.

Veteran GM salaried workers being moved off  pensions  to  401(k)s

General Motors plans to freeze its U.S. pension plan for longtime white-collar workers and give all salaried employees annual bonuses but not raises in an effort to hold down expenses. The automaker said 19,000 salaried workers hired before 2001 will move from a traditional pension to a 401(k)-type plan with contributions based on salary and bonuses. Employees hired after 2001 — about 30 percent of the salaried workforce — already are in that defined contribution plan.

Compiled from Tribune news services