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Cyprus Bailout's Harsh Terms for Depositors Spark ATM Runs, Outrage

03/18/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Cyprus: Bailouts? Been there. Bank runs? Done that. But the European rescue package for this Mediterranean island has introduced a cruel twist: Making depositors pay. All depositors. The proposed one-time "stability levy" would not only take 9.9% out of uninsured deposits above 100,000 euros, but also 6.75% of insured deposits below that threshold, no matter how small the savings. This detail sparked panic, as Cypriots queued up at ATMs over the weekend...

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Stress Test Part II Results Revealed; JPM Whale Saga Continues; Geithner Gets Book Deal

03/15/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Stress Tests, Part II: Second round of results of the Federal Reserve's stress tests are in. The big items to note, per the headlines: Ally Financial and BB&T had their capital plans denied; JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs received "conditional" approval for theirs since the Fed has concerns about their "ability to adequately estimate losses" when faced with a severe economic event (Both now have until September to resubmit capital proposals); and...

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Ina Drew to Speak at Levin Hearing, But Not Birthday Boy CEO

03/14/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Whale Inquest: Ina Drew, JPMorgan's former chief investment officer, and Doug Braunstein, its former chief financial officer, will testify about the London Whale trading loss before Senator Carl Levin's investigations subcommittee Friday. It will be Drew's first public appearance since the trading losses were disclosed last year. Notably absent from the witness list: Jamie Dimon. Incidentally, the CEO turned 57 on Wednesday, prompting the Times' DealBook to remind readers that five years...

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SEC Nominee Sails Through Confirmation Hearing; Cyberattack Watch

03/13/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

The Mary Jo White Hearing: "Not a single senator voiced even slight opposition to President Obama's pick to head the Securities and Exchange Commission," the Post reports, despite what the Journal described as "pointed questions from lawmakers about whether her time spent defending Wall Street banks would impinge on her ability to police Wall Street." Importantly, Mary Jo White indicated flexibility on reforming money market funds, telling the Senate Banking panel that...

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FDIC's Undisclosed Failed-Bank Settlements; Mary Jo White's Big Day

03/12/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Failed-Bank Fallout: D&O insurance premiums are way up for small banks as the FDIC goes after former executives of failed institutions, the Journal reports. Meanwhile, the FDIC has kept quiet about "scores" of settlements in failed-bank cases the last few years, thanks to "no press release" clauses, a Los Angeles Times investigative piece revealed. Though these clauses can seal a deal with a defendant who wants to avoid embarrassment, they represent "a...

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Bernanke in Limbo; Too Big to Ignore; Commodity Famine

03/11/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Bernanke in No-Man's Land: When the history of the financial crisis is written, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will no doubt take flak for many things but timidity about stimulating the economy is unlikely to be among them. A half decade after the crisis, and with the labor market on the mend, the Fed is still buying $85 billion of mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries each month. It's financing the expansion of its...

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Fed Stress Test Results; Lawmakers vs. Regulators on TBTJ; Goldman Changes Promotion Policy

03/08/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Reaction Split on Stress Test Results: Seventeen of the 18 largest banks have enough capital on hand to weather a sharp economic downturn, according to the first set of results from the Federal Reserve's latest stress tests. Full explainer, plus graph, of the results are available in this American Banker article. You'll notice Ally Financial standing out as the only bank failing to meet the Fed's requirement of a minimum Tier 1...

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Stress Test Preview; Dow Does It Again; U.S. AG Admits Some Banks Are TBTJ

03/07/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Stress Test Results Are Coming: Today is the day the Federal Reserve tells banks how they fared on their stress tests and whether they'll be able to return more capital to shareholders through dividends or buying back stock. Results won't be made public until March 14, but according to the Journal's Heard on the Street column, "analysts expect healthy capital returns overall." This doesn't mean investors should expect big payouts, as some...

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Dow Hits Record High; Will Gensler Spend a Second Term at CFTC?

03/06/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

All About the Dow: Despite "tepid economic growth" and "political gridlock" (most recently personified by the ongoing sequester), the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high on Tuesday, climbing 125.95 points, or 0.89%, to 14253.77 and exceeding the previous record set in October 2007. But will the rally last? Maybe, posits the Journal. Or, alternately, should more investors pile in? Possibly, says the Times, due largely to the ongoing efforts of...

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Fannie, Freddie to Form New Firm; Corbat's Executive Review Plan; JPM's Whale Resurfaces

03/05/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fannie-Freddie Merger: One big step for housing reform? Federal Housing Finance Agency acting director Edward DeMarco unveiled plans on Monday to merge certain parts of government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to "create a common platform for issuing mortgage-backed securities." Details on this plan were scarce, but the merger of certain "back-office functions" would involve forming a new company with its own CEO, management and headquarters. This firm...

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