The chairman and chief executive of Household International stepped forward Tuesday with a rebuttal of accusations that his consumer finance company is playing accounting tricks to mask bad loans.
Saying repeatedly that his company has a "good balance sheet and conservative approach," William F. Aldinger used his time at a conference in New York to respond to criticisms of Household published in the past week in two national magazines.
"Our returns are almost double between 1995 and today, in both the ROA and ROE," Mr. Aldinger said at the 12th Annual Bank CEO Conference in New York, sponsored by Goldman, Sachs & Co. "Our equity levels are substantially higher today than they were in 1995. We've never really gotten the credit we deserve on our ability to be disciplined and focused and avoid the land mines. …