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Will CFPB Be Renamed 'Consumer Family Protection Bureau'?

02/15/13

Editor's note: Morning Scan will not publish on Monday, Feb. 18 in observance of the Presidents Day holiday. We'll be back on Tuesday, Feb. 19. Receiving Wide Coverage ... Senator Warren: She's the firebrand you expected, admonishing financial regulators from her Senate Banking Committee seat ("The question I really want to ask is about how tough you are") and fighting the Republican filibustering of Richard Cordray's renomination. Interestingly, one reason Elizabeth Warren urges a quick confirmation of...

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U.K. Regulator to Libor Panel Banks: You Can Check Out Anytime You Like ... But You Can Never Leave

02/14/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Jack Lew's Confirmation Hearing: According to the Post, "The questions from the Senate Finance Committee, which is vetting Lew, reflected the widening responsibilities of the Treasury secretary, a role that shapes policy on trade, taxes, economic growth - and now banking regulation." Despite pointed questions about his lucrative work at Citigroup, his Cayman Islands hedge fund investment, etc., "Lew handled the confirmation so smoothly that toward the end of the hearing, Republicans...

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Banking Conspicuously Absent from State of the Union Address

02/13/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

State of the Union Address: Obama urged passage of a mortgage refinancing bill, but otherwise made no mention of banking or financial services, to the relief of some industry executives. In the Republican rebuttal, Marco Rubio alluded to the role of "reckless government policies" in the housing crisis and called for improved disclosures to student loan borrowers. Incidentally, why all the fuss about taking a swig of water? He was giving a...

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Two on the Griddle: Mary Jo White and Jack Lew

02/12/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

More on Mary Jo White: The papers scrutinize the financial disclosures of Obama's nominee to lead the SEC. Among other things, they reveal how much she and her husband have made at their respective white-shoe law firms (at least $16 million combined) and the couple's plan to avoid conflicts of interest if she's confirmed (he'd convert his partnership in Cravath, Swaine & Moore to a nonequity one and recuse himself from dealing...

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The Financial Crisis Is Now Considered a Historical Period, Just Like the Roman Empire

02/11/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Barclays Restructuring: After six months on the job, CEO Antony Jenkins will announce a restructuring on Tuesday that "is expected to leave the bank's strategy largely intact," according to the Journal. The British giant's investment bank will slash 2,000 jobs, or 10% of the unit's workforce, and activities that aren't "socially useful" may get the ax, such as "transactions that have no business purpose other than reducing taxes." (Nevertheless, Barclays "will continue...

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Libor Scandal Spreads, Ratings Troubles Deepen, Volcker Rule Bites

02/08/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall: JPMorgan Chase (JPM) on Thursday became the latest megabank implicated in the global scandal involving the rigging of Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate. The U.S. banking giant coordinated its Swiss franc Libor submissions with those of Royal Bank of Scotland, which, Scan noted yesterday, has itself reached a $612 million rate-rigging settlement. The JPM connection surfaces through documents filed in connection with RBS's deal earlier in...

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RBS, S&P Revisited; Geithner Book Titles; JPMorgan May Have Knowingly Made Bad Mortgage Deals

02/07/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

RBS, Part II: Bankers behaving badly are all too happy to document said behavior in any type of internal correspondence they can. That seems to be a big takeaway this week as the Royal Bank of Scotland's $612 million Libor settlement has yielded incriminating emails and instant messages similar to those the Justice Department revealed in its civil case against Standard & Poor's. The most notable RBS correspondence making the rounds is...

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RBS Pays Big Fine, Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud Over Libor Case; DOJ Versus S&P

02/06/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

And RBS Makes Three: Royal Bank of Scotland has reached a settlement with U.S. and U.K. regulators over its involvement in the Libor rate-rigging scandal. The settlement includes a combined $612 million fine. As previously speculated, RBS' Japanese unit pled guilty to criminal wrongdoing. Per Dealbook, this involves "a single count of felony wire fraud to settle the case." John Hourican, the head of RBS's investment bank, resigned as part of the...

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U.S. Sues S&P; More Bad News from UBS, Barclays; Debate Over Mary Jo White Continues

02/05/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Charges Filed: The Justice Department is suing credit rating agency Standard & Poor's for allegedly ignoring their own standards and rating mortgage investments much higher than they should have been in years leading up to the financial crisis. Per the suit, filed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder: S&P "falsely represented that its credit ratings of RMBS and CDO tranches were objective, independent, uninfluenced by any conflicts of interest that might compromise...

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U.K. Regulators Vow to Break up Big Banks that Break Their Rules; 2 Barclays' Execs Step Down; New Citi Exec Steps In

02/04/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

The Electric Ring Fence: Would the threat of a break up keep big banks from violating the law? U.K. regulators appear to believe so as they are set to announce new powers today that will give them the authority to break up banks that flout ring-fencing rules in their Banking Reform Bill. "In America and elsewhere, banks found ways to undermine and get around the rules," U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne is...

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