The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

By Rob Cox

The biggest American financial institutions are still benefiting from the perception that the government will always come to their rescue. But a slight narrowing in the gap between what mega-banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America and others in the industry pay for deposits may suggest a hint of progress. That offers hope for those who would like to eradicate the notion that some banks are too big to fail.

By Rob Cox
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Rock stars normally hand out lessons about sex, drugs and trashing hotel rooms. But a battle between dance-rock outfit LCD Soundsystem and ticketing agents over the band’s “last” show offers a strange insight into the laws of supply and demand. On top of that, the kerfuffle also reveals the distortions underlying the U.S. music business.

By Rob Cox
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

More than the Queen’s visage on their money binds the financial centers of London and Toronto. They are two of the world’s preferred destinations for companies raising capital in the mining and metals businesses. So a sort-of merger of equals, like the one announced by TMX Group and the London Stock Exchange, carries strong industrial logic.

By Rob Cox and Lisa Lee

American company directors may be getting a J Crew makeover of sorts. The anger that retailer elicited from investors in handling its buyout is creating ripples at other companies targeted by private equity buyers. It probably explains the decision by the academically-heavy board of BJ’s Wholesale to kick off an auction after six months of deer-in-the-headlights inaction. It’s a good sign for shareholder rights.

By hiring Morgan Stanley to explore options on Thursday, the $2.7 billion club retailer – which toils away in the shadows of mega-rivals Costco and Wal-Mart – is saying no to the kind of closed-door, sweetheart deal that J Crew CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler engineered for himself and private equity backers TPG and Leonard Green & Partners. It’s no secret the latter has been itching to take BJ’s private for months.

By Rob Cox

When Goldman Sachs released the findings of its Business Standards Committee and some new numbers on Jan. 11, investors focused on the bank’s heightened disclosure of its proprietary trading activity and profit. But regulators entrusted with a bigger responsibility — the safety of the financial system — are more excited about what Goldman has yet to reveal.

In its new disclosure, and again in its fourth-quarter earnings report on Jan. 19, Goldman added a fourth business segment, known as “Investing & Lending,” to its income statement, enabling analysts to see a bit more of the firm’s money-making machine. Yet Goldman’s business standards manifesto also promised expanded balance sheet disclosures. These are expected this month in the annual report.

By Rob Cox
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Vikram Pandit has been banging his head for years over Citigroup’s financial problems. But that doesn’t qualify him as an expert on heavy metal. So expect the bank to quickly offload EMI, the Iron Maiden-to-Katy Perry music publishing and recording business it seized on Tuesday.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — Some things, like Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s sex life, are best kept behind closed doors. So it is with the massive restructuring of the media business built on Hef’s nudie magazine. Playboy may be iconic — but its future is bleak. So while the newly engaged octogenarian is still having his way with shareholders in his latest low-ball bid, they might as well take his money.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Goldman Sachs’ rivals must be kicking themselves. The firm’s near $2 billion investment hook-up with Facebook is relatively small beans financially, but it’s a big win in franchise terms. After the lumps Goldman took last year, the deal shows the firm can still lead the way wrapping its tentacles around a key client for mutual benefit.

By Robert Cyran and Rob Cox

Facebook may at last become a real, rather than virtual, money spinner in 2011. The social network doesn’t need capital to grow, but expectations from backers and employees for an IPO are too high for founder Mark Zuckerberg to ignore. There’s just one challenge: trading in Facebook’s unlisted shares values the website at more than $40 billion. Getting to that number requires some astonishing growth assumptions.

That’s not to say it’s impossible for Facebook to attain a public market value at least as big as its current implied worth. Facebook is both valuable and becoming more so. It has more than 500 million users and it’s adding thousands by the minute. But rarely has a private company attracted such a large — and relatively liquid — financial status as Facebook.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — It’s the time of year when families gather to watch Jimmy Stewart play George Bailey, the small-town banker who with a little angelic intervention extends credit to his neighbors in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Yet though Bailey remains emblematic of a benign banking system, most Americans probably don’t realize he’s the most endangered species in finance.