Financial/Banking

New York — Le Pain Quotidien has leased a 3,100-sq.-ft. retail location at 1006 First Avenue, on the northeast corner of East 55th Street. A former Chase Bank location, the site offers 65 ft. of frontage set slightly above street level, allowing for excellent visibility and signage.

Le Pain Quotidien, an organic bakery and communal table restaurant, has more than 200 locations on five continents.

Dallas -- Approximately 1.1 million debit and credit cards used at Neiman Marcus stores may have been compromised in a security breach last year, according to an update posted on the retailer’s website. To date, Visa, MasterCard and Discover have notified the company that approximately 2,400 unique customer payment cards used at Neiman Marcus and Last Call stores were subsequently used fraudulently.

Madison, Wis. – Target Corp.’s data security breach has already cost all credit unions between $25 million to $30 million. Those numbers are expected to rise in coming weeks as more of the cooperative financial institutions report their costs and as fraud losses are incurred down the road, according to preliminary results of a survey of credit unions by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

New York – Hedge fund Litespeed Management has purchased about 8.1 million shares, or an 8.1% stake, in RadioShack. Litespeed, founded by Jamie Zimmerman in 2000, specializes in investing in troubled companies that have viable businesses.

Litespeed disclosed the purchase in an SEC filing. The filing does not specify purchase price, but analysts have estimated the company probably did not spend more than roughly $17 million on the investment.

Target’s data security breach has already cost all credit unions between $25 million to $30 million. Those numbers are expected to climb in coming weeks as more of the cooperative financial institutions report their costs and as fraud losses are incurred down the road, according to preliminary results of a survey of credit unions by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

New York -- The National Retail Federation on late Tuesday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner that called for replacing the magnetic-strip credit and debit cards that are widely used throughout the United States with chip-based cards that store data in an embedded computer micro-chip and require the use of a PIN rather than a signature. The chip-based cards are widely used in Europe, Asia and Africa.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the National Retail Federation underscored the retail industry’s commitment to protecting sensitive consumer data in the wake of the recent international cyber attacks and thefts.

Hudson's Bay Company’s CFO Michael Culhane is reportedly taking a leave of absence from the company. Assuming the CFO role will be Donald Watros, who on Feb. 1 will be stepping into his new role as president of the company.

HBC did not provide further details on Culhane or the CFO spot.