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Romney Presidency Wouldn't Magically Turn Fed Doves into Hawks; A Series of Credit Card Thefts

10/24/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Romney's Reserve: Various news outlets are following up on a Times article from Binyamin Applebaum that focuses on potential Federal Reserve chairman replacements for Ben Bernanke should Republican candidate Mitt Romney win the upcoming presidential election. (It should be noted some attention is also being given to potential Obama appointees, given Andrew Ross Sorkin's recent disclosure Bernanke isn't interested in another term once his current one expires in January 2014, but with...

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Big Bank CEOs Continue to Push on (But Not Solve) the Fiscal Cliff Problem; Volcker News

10/23/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Big Bank CEOs vs. the Fiscal Cliff: Big bank CEOs are intensifying their efforts to get Congress to deal with the looming fiscal cliff, convening to discuss the issue over lunch at JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's house and releasing a letter intended to sway legislators toward a budget compromise. "We write today to urge you to work together to reach a bipartisan agreement to avoid the approaching 'fiscal cliff,' and take...

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Greg Smith's Book Tells All About Greg Smith, Less About Goldman; RBS Still Needs to Slim Down

10/22/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Did Greg Smith Do Goldman a Favor?: More news outlets are echoing Dealbook's assessment of former trader Greg Smith's purported tell-all "Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story" by stating that the book, due out today, isn't much of a tell-all at all. The FT says while Smith's account "paints an unflattering picture" of the investment firm, it doesn't "contain any blockbuster discoveries that could to lead to trouble for...

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Earnings, Black Monday, Goldman Non-Revelations

10/19/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Times Are a-Changin': Sort of. On the silver anniversary of the Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday stock market crash, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal make prominent note of the event. "A Repeat of '29? Depression in '87 Is Not Expected," declared the Journal in a second-day story that it resurrects on its web site this morning. The Times went even gloomier the day after. "Does 1987 Equal 1929?"...

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Another Day at Citi; B of A's Legal Woes

10/18/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Citi's Shakeup, Day Two — Receiving Unsolicited Advice and Reassuring Everyone: Yesterday saw the introduction of new CEO Michael Corbat, and today Citi's rolling out the man who installed him atop the bank. Michael O'Neill "represents a new generation" of bank directors, the Times declares, citing his "unusual" decision to visit Citi's trading floors and take a close look at the bank's business lines after he became chairman of the bank earlier...

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Never Send a Shy Technocrat to Do a Low-Profile Leader's Job

10/17/12

Breaking News This Morning ...

Earnings: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Comerica, US Bancorp, First Republic, M&T Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Citi's Shakeup — The "Why": The surprise resignation of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit "was the culmination of months of growing board disenchantment," says the Journal. Citi's failing the most recent stress tests, shareholders' thumbs-down in the last say on pay vote, and the stock's overall poor performance during his five-year tenure fueled the frustrations....

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'I Know There Were a Lot of One-Time Charges to Explain, Vik, But You Might Have Mentioned Your Resignation on the Earnings Call'

10/16/12

Breaking News This Morning ...

Well, That Was Abrupt. The day after a generally positive earnings report (more on that below) CEO Vikram Pandit says he's "concluded that now is the right time for someone else to take the helm at Citigroup." That someone else is long-time company veteran Michael Corbat, who most recently oversaw the Europe, Middle East and Africa business and before that Citi Holdings, the company's garage sale of noncore assets. President and...

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Housing Said to Be on Mend, But Boom-Era Liabilities Fester

10/15/12

Breaking News This Morning ...

Earnings: Citigroup Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Housing Recovery: The refinancing surge and executives' upbeat comments about the housing market were prominently featured in coverage of the JPMorgan and Wells Fargo third-quarter reports. "J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo: Housing on Mend" was the Journal's headline; "Dimon says US housing has turned corner" was the FT's. Another Journal story says families who lost their homes to foreclosure early in the housing crisis are buying again,...

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Whale Aside, JPMorgan Makes Big Money off Mortgages; RBS Collects on IPO; Analyzing Tarullo Cap

10/12/12

Breaking News This Morning ...

JPMorgan Earnings: JPMorgan Chase bested analyst expectations by reporting a 34% rise in earnings and net income of $5.7 billion for its third quarter. The boost in profit is related largely to a spike in mortgage loan originations that counterbalanced an additional $449 million in derivative losses courtesy of the London Whale and caused CEO Jamie Dimon to declare "we believe the housing market has turned the corner." Now if the...

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JPMorgan CFO to Step Down, Dimon Rants, Authorities Build Case Against London Whale

10/11/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

The JPMorgan Shuffle Continues: JPMorgan cannot stop revamping its organization chart. One month after an overhaul of its corporate and investment banking division and a week after two upper-level departures, multiple news outlets are reporting the bank's chief financial officer Douglas Braunstein will step down by the end of the year. The move isn't all that surprising given Braunstein found his role significantly diminished during another major executive shake-up back in September...

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