national-global

B of A Gets Sued and UBS Settles as SEC 'Loses Steam' With Crisis-Related Investigations

08/07/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Sued: Well, we know this was coming — The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed parallel civil lawsuits on Tuesday, alleging Bank of America misled investors about the quality of $850 million in mortgage-backed securities sold in the lead up to the financial crisis. Important to note: the case deals with prime jumbo mortgages that were securitized and sold by B of A, not its much-maligned acquisition Countrywide....

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Here's One More Third-Party Compliance Risk for Banks to Worry About

08/06/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Stuck in the Middle: Banks are once again caught between a crusading regulator and a frowned-upon fringe of the financial industry. New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky warned 35 online lenders to stop offering loans that violate the state usury cap, and asked 117 banks to stop these lenders from debiting borrowers' accounts via ACH. "Banks have proven to be — even if unintentionally — an essential cog in…

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As Goldman Turns, Commodity Drought, Sen. Brown Does Banking

08/05/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fabulous Fab Continued: On a summer Monday when many Wall Streeters and journalists alike are pondering the sand between their toes, enough personnel remain on duty to produce a hefty dose of news on Goldman Sachs (GS) and its former trader, Fabrice "Fabulous Fab" Tourre. This morning's installments include one from the Wall Street Journal concluding that Tourre and his former employer have been inextricably linked for a while longer by a...

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'Fabulous' Fab Found Liable; RBS Names CEO; More B of A Mortgage Woes?

08/02/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

More Mortgage Woes for B of A? Bank of America has disclosed that the Justice Department intends to file civil charges against the bank over claims it mishandled "one or two jumbo prime securitizations." The Securities and Exchange Commission is also weighing civil charges related to how B of A brokerage house Merrill Lynch handled its securities and the New York Attorney General's office is recommending action against Merrill Lynch over residential...

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Merchants Score a Win in Swipe Fee War; RBS Picks New CEO

08/01/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Sideswiped: A federal judge has overturned the Federal Reserve's rule on debit card swipe fee caps, effectively stating that the central bank had set the caps too low. In the decision, the judge said the Fed's rule, which caps fees charged to merchants whenever a customer uses a debit card at 21-cents a transaction, "runs completely afoul of the text, design and purpose" of the Durbin amendment, the Dodd-Frank provision that called...

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JPM, FERC Update; Talk of Home-Rental-Payment-Backed Securities; Geithner for Fed Chair?

07/31/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

JPM, FERC Update: Very shortly after yesterday's Scan, JPMorgan Chase, as predicted, formally settled with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over energy market manipulation allegations. Kudos to the Journal for nailing the amount of the fine associated with the widely anticipated settlement in an earlier report on the matter: $410 million. Dealbreaker, however, gets the credit for best explanation of the settlement agreement. A choice quote from the blog post by Matt...

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FERC Accuses JPM; Virtual Currencies' Self-Regulation; Tourre Trial Nears End

07/30/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

JPM Energy-Market Allegations: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a two-page document on Monday, detailing its (already widely reported) accusations against JPMorgan Chase for energy-market manipulation. Per the Journal, "the document describes several trading schemes, including submitting bids that 'falsely appeared' attractive to electricity-system operators and led to payments to the bank valued at 'tens of millions of dollars at rates far above market prices.'" The FT notes the allegations "echo the...

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Barclays to Unveil Capital Plans; Fed 'Doves' Best 'Hawks' on Forecasts

07/29/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Targeting Barclays: The U.K. Treasury is expected to give the "cash-strapped' Serious Fraud Office £2 million in special "blockbuster" funding so that it can continue a probe into Barclays' fundraising efforts five years ago, the FT reports. "The SFO's director, David Green, negotiated a similar arrangement for the agency's sprawling investigation into Libor manipulation, in which Barclays is also a target," the paper notes. Regulators have been looking into "certain commercial arrangements"...

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The 'Silly, Romantic' Side of Fabulous Fab

07/26/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Democrats Rally for Yellen: Roughly a third of Senate Democrats reportedly have signed a letter urging President Obama to appoint Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen as successor to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. The Journal and the FT were not able to say exactly who or how many senators have signed the letter, which is being circulated by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Tom Harkin say they've signed.…

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U.S. Versus SAC, Tourre; Yellen Versus Summers for Fed Chair

07/25/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

U.S. Versus SAC, Tourre: Papers remain focused on the ongoing civil trial of former Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre and the expected insider trading criminal charges against hedge-fund giant SAC Capital Advisors, which could be filed any minute now. Dealbook's latest article on the SAC charges says "the marshaled might of law enforcement," which includes representatives from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI, postal inspectors and the Justice Department, "signaled that...

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