national-global

Senate's Housing Plan; Mervyn's Exit; China's Return from Brink

06/26/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Senate Housing Finance Reform Plan Drops: The newly unveiled Corker-Warner plan enjoyed strong support Tuesday from various quarters — senators of both parties, the White House and mortgage industry reps all sounded positive notes — but the papers remind their readers that the overhaul is still likely going nowhere. Right now House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, is the most obvious obstacle. But as American Banker's Victoria Finkle notes, the...

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Bond Market Exodus; China's End to Easy Money; Hiring the Enemy

06/25/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Hawks, Doves, Hogs, Turkeys: It hardly compares to 2008, but liquidity in the bond market is drying up fast as investors prepare for a world without stimulus. With recent economic trends punctuated by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments last Wednesday about the timetable for slowing the Fed's bond purchases, investors have pulled near-record amounts of cash from the bond markets in recent weeks, the Journal reports. Meanwhile, Dallas Fed President Richard...

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Central Banks Issue Warning; Citi Enters Iraq; Banks Support Bail-in

06/24/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Central Banks Warn Private Sector to Act: The world's central banks have done their job; now it's time for political leaders to do theirs. That's the message delivered by the Bank for International Settlements, colloquially known as the central bankers' bank, in the wake of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that the Fed may slow its bond-buying program later this year. "Cheap and plentiful central bank money had merely bought time,"...

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Lawsky Strikes Again; Housing Market Watch; More Supervision for Bank Consultants?

06/21/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Lawsky Strikes Again: Benjamin Lawsky has certainly had a busy week. The New York state regulator followed up his $10 million Deloitte settlement with a $250 million settlement with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ over money-laundering allegations on Thursday. True to form, the settlement upstages an $8.5 million fine the Japanese bank paid to federal regulators last December. (Scan readers will recall that last year, Lawsky reached a $340 million money-laundering settlement with...

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U.K. Banks Told to Raise More Capital; Mortgage Pact Blunders; Fed's Plans

06/20/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... U.K.'S Capital Plans: British regulators have told their biggest banks to raise a combined $20.7 billion in capital by the end of the year to cover shortfalls. The announcement builds on earlier capital directives from the Prudential Regulation Authority, which has been attempting to bolster banks' balance sheets in an effort to stem off future financial shocks. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, which would need to raise the…

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Lawsky's Consultant Crackdown; Fed Policy Side Effects; Co-op Bank Update

06/19/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Consultant Crackdown: Deloitte Financial Advisory Services has struck an agreement with New York's Department of Financial Services that will see the advisory firm pay $10 million and receive a one-year ban from soliciting new work in the state in order to settle allegations it mishandled its anti-money laundering review of U.K. bank Standard Chartered. The agreement, which also requires Deloitte "to implement reforms designed to address conflicts of interest," is part of…

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U.K. Charges Trader in Libor Scandal; Fed Watch; Lawsky Targets Banking Consultants

06/18/13

Breaking News This Morning ...

Charges Filed: The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office has charged former UBS and Citibank trader Tom Hayes with eight counts of fraud in connection with the London interbank offered rate-rigging scandal. The charges represent the first time U.K. authorities have pursued criminal penalties against someone allegedly involved in the manipulation of Libor, says the Journal. Per the FT, the move sets up "a potential conflict" between the U.S. and the U.K. since...

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Co-op Bank to 'Bail In' Bondholders; JPM Expands and Contracts

06/17/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Co-op Bank 'Bails In' Bondholders: As part of its efforts to raise an additional $2.4 billion in capital, U.K. lender Co-operative Bank is asking subordinated bondholders to swap their debt securities for shares in the bank. "By requiring bondholders to exchange their debt securities for shares, Co-operative Bank is trying to avoid turning to the British government for help," Dealbook notes. Participation in the swap is currently voluntary. Analysts tell the Journal...

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Government v. Gearheads; With Chief Ousted, Morale Expected to Deteriorate at RBS

06/14/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fallout from RBS's Hester Ousting: The Royal Bank of Scotland's firing of its chief executive, Stephen Hester, will send bank staff morale "to rock bottom," the Financial Times reports, and more defections are expected. In a related note, RBS announced Thursday it would wind down its remaining equities sales and trading businesses and will cease to offer structured retail investor products and equity derivatives; this is expected to lead to 2,000 job...

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RBS CEO Exits; Goldman CEO Stays

06/13/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Royal Goodbye: Royal Bank of Scotland is pushing out its chief executive, Stephen Hester, and cutting about 2,000 jobs as the bank's board tries to get ready to wean itself off the British government's 81% ownership stake. Hester has recently "clashed with [RBS Chairman Philip] Hampton and senior government officials over the bank's strategy," anonymous sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Hester is the sixth British big-bank CEO to get the ax…

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