Earlier this week, WikiLeaks published thousands of cables of previously confidential government cables, leading to a broad market decline. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks has become known for blockbuster data dumps that have humiliated top diplomats and put lives in danger. Now, he may be turning his attention to specific companies as well.

On Tuesday, after investors realized that Assange probably has a mark on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) as his next target, shares of the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking behemoth plunged as much as 3.5%, hitting a new 52-week low of $10.91.  After WikiLeaks’ latest hoorah, Forbes published an interview with Assange in which he claimed to have damning information about a large U.S. bank.

Assange did not indicate which bank, but many have widely speculated the bank in question is Bank of America, given comments he made during a 2009 interview claiming he had 5 gigabytes of data from the hard drive of a Bank of America executive and was determining how to present it in the most effective way.

Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove suggested that it may be some information about Countrywide’s lending practices, its “friends of Angelo” program that gave sweetheart mortgages to government officials or the Merrill Lynch acquisition. But all of those topics appear unlikely, given the way Assange described the information. He compared it to Enron, cited “flagrant violations, unethical practices that will be revealed” and characterized it as a window into “the ecosystem of corruption.”

What, if anything, comes of this is still yet to be seen – but, the mere speculation could zap billions of dollars in market cap from a still struggling firm so investors will be eyes wide open on this.

This article (Is Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Next on WikiLeaks Target List?) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News. Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.

Anyone that read Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” has heard the case for India being the next mega market. Banks have noticed this too of course, by beginning to invest in the developing region, and trying to attract new wealthy clients. Some bankers in particular have interest and growth prospects in the region, as evidenced by the recent actions of Ravi Hansoty, former headr of the Asia-Pacific region at Citi Property Investors, a division of Citigroup (NYSE: C). Hansoty plans to raise as much as $350 million by the end of next year for an India property fund.

The fund aims to buy land to build apartments and hotels in India as early as June, said Hansoty, who left Citigroup Inc.’s real estate asset management unit in November. Hansoty said he will set up his company in Mumbai and may relocate from Hong Kong after he stops accepting new money from investors. Hansoty aims to take advantage of increasing demand for housing in one of Asia’s fastest growing economies.

These aims are not limited to a single banker though, in fact, eight funds are raising $1.6 billion to invest in India, London-based research firm Preqin Ltd. said in a November report, while an estimated 38 million homes are needed in the nation of 1.2 billion people by 2030, according to San Francisco-based McKinsey Global Institute.

Hansoty commented, “Home ownership is extremely low in India. There is significant demand that is going to come online in the future for housing needs.” Development projects will be done with joint-venture partners who would be responsible for building the apartments and hotels, Hansoty said.

The fund will seek to develop hotels and buy existing ones amid rising demand for business and leisure travel in the country, Hansoty said. Fairmont Raffles Holdings International plans to add six hotels under its Swissotel brand in India in the next five years to tap the growing demand for business travel in the country, Aiden McAuley, vice president of Asia-Pacific region for Swissotel Hotels & Resorts, said Nov. 22. As occupancy rates in India are rising to record levels thanks to domestic demand, revenue per room has also nearly doubled, creating a highly attractive investment opportunity for hoteliers and thus, financing for them.

Hansoty encapsulated his strategy in saying “When we look at the GDP growth for India, there are probably very few countries in the world which are growing at a rate of about 7 percent in an economy that is sizeable enough to have an impact. Here is a market where you have everything sitting at the right place if you are looking for long-term growth.”

This article (Former Citigroup (NYSE: C) Exec Starting Real Estate Investment Fund In India) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News. Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.