national-global

Morning Scan: A Peek at the Fed; B of A Settles Again; Dimon Letter

04/10/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ... A Look Behind the Curtain: The Fed held a video conference in March to discuss whether to ditch its 6.5% unemployment rate target. The Financial Times said the meeting helped shape the Fed's decision later in the month to adjust its position on forward guidance. The policymakers were concerned that their decision would be misunderstood. Meanwhile, Fed officials are worried about persistently low inflation. Â...

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Morning Scan: Leverage Ratio Could Leave $68B Capital Gap; New Security Threat

04/09/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Tough New Big Bank Requirement: The eight biggest banks in the U.S. may have to add up to a total of $68 billion in capital to meet a new leverage ratio finalized by regulators. Under the rule, banks with more than $700 billion of assets will have to must meet a 5% leverage ratio, and 6% at their federally insured banking units. The ratio, approved by the Office of the Comptroller of...

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Morning Scan: Regulators Act on Leverage Ratio; Volcker Rule CLO Exemption

04/08/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Leveraging Up: Regulators are slated to finalize a new rule on Tuesday mandating the amount of loss-absorbing capital big banks must hold on their books. Banking agencies last summer proposed raising the leverage ratio to 5% for bank holding companies and 6% for their insured subsidiaries. Those figures are expected to hold steady at the final vote, though how the ratio is calculated could be fine-tuned. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, American...

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Morning Scan: Diamond's African Voyage; BlackRock's Shuffle; BNY Mellon Showdown

04/07/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

BlackRock Planning Ahead: Global investment firm BlackRock is shifting and promoting several of its key executives in a move interpreted as succession planning for the day Laurence D. Fink, the firm's co-founder and chief executive, decides to step down. Charles S. Hallac, its current chief operating officer, will become co-president on June 1 alongside Robert S. Kapito, current president of the firm. Robert Goldstein, current head of institutional client business, will become...

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Morning Scan: So, Basically, B of A Has Been Pulling a JPM in Recent Months

04/04/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

B of A Nears CFPB Settlement: Anonymice tell their favorite news outlets that Bank of America is nearing an $800 million-plus settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over allegations it force credit card customers to buy other products. The CFPB has levied fines against American Express, Capital One, Discover and JPMorgan Chase over similar allegations, but the B of A fine is expected to be the largest. As the Journal notes...

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Morning Scan: Masters Exits JPM; Citi's Mexican Unit Fraud Problems Spark Crime Inquiry

04/03/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Another Big JPM Exit: Well, Jamie Dimon's C-Suite is certainly Â... dynamic. Following very recent news of potential Dimon successor Mike Cavanagh's departure, Blythe Masters, head of JPM's commodities unit, has resigned. Masters' exit shouldn't come as a surprise Â-- to the public or to JPM executives. The bank just sold its physical commodities business Â-- which was the subject of a $410 million settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last...

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Morning Scan: More Big Bank Personnel Changes; Goldman Faces EU Fine

04/02/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Lots (and Lots) of Personnel Changes: News broke late yesterday that Wells Fargo was shuffling around some of its senior executives. Timothy Sloan is vacating his chief financial officer position to take over as Wells' head of wholesale banking. He replaces David Hoyt, who is retiring. John Shrewsberry, currently head of securities, will take over Sloan's CFO position. Wells didn't offer much of an explanation for the changes. CEO John Stumpf issued...

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Morning Scan: Let's All Talk About High-Speed Trading

04/01/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Yellen Speech: Janet Yellen gave her first public speech as Federal Reserve chair Monday. General consensus among news outlets is that her speech Â-- which included stories about individuals struggling in the job market Â-- was, at least in part, aimed at getting investors to calm down about interest rates coming down sooner than expected. (Scan readers will recall the market took a tumble a few weeks ago after Yellen seemingly laid...

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Morning Scan: Another Forex Probe; RBS Close to Naming New CFO

03/31/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Swiss Forex Probe: A Swiss watchdog has launched an investigation into whether eight banks manipulated the foreign currency exchange market. The banks include Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. The Swiss Competition Commission joins a host of other global regulators, including those in the U.K. and the U.S., that are trying to figure out whether financial firms manipulated currency markets. New York Times, Financial Times, Wall...

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Morning Scan: Lehman Pay Out Hits $80 Billion; Wal-Mart Vs. Visa

03/28/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Lehman Payout: Lehman makes its fifth semi-annual payout to creditors next week, a bigger-than-expected $17.9 billion, pushing its total payments to creditors above $80 billion. The Wall Street Journal notes that most of the money to be distributed "involves money Lehman entities owe each other." Reuters says, "The payout will include $12.8 billion to third-party creditors and affiliates, plus $5.1 billion to other Lehman debtors and affiliates." Creditors will now reap 26.9...

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