national-global

IMF's Lagarde to U.S.: 'You Need to Deal with the Fiscal Cliff,' The Great Libor Debate Continues

09/25/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Global Threat on the Horizon: The central banks' efforts are all well and good, but the U.S. and European governments will need to do more to prevent global growth from screeching to a halt, says International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde. In an address at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Lagarde warned the IMF may cut its estimates of global growth again this year during its meetings in Japan next...

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Fed Banking Official Meets Often with Banks, Regulators; U.K. to Launch State-Backed Business Bank

09/24/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ... The Fed Dissected: It's been well over a week since the Federal Reserve announced another round of (this time unlimited) quantitative easing, but the U.S. central bank is still making headlines. The Journal has two stories this morning dissecting Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo's schedule. Their major takeaways include that Tarullo, considered the Fed's top banking regulator, spends a lot of time talking "with Obama administration figures, U.S. regulators and foreign officials"...

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money Laundering But Were Afraid to Ask

09/21/12

Wall Street Journal

If you want to catch up on FinCen's proposed expansion of anti-money laundering and know-your-customer requirements, which was released for public comment in February, the Journal offers a primer today. The gist is that "Treasury wants financial institutions to understand who owns or controls an account and keep detailed records that law-enforcement officials can access." While regulators have wanted banks to identify beneficial owners of accounts for years, the rule would codify this...

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Banks That Ask Customers to Waive Legal Rights Upfront Get Taste of Own Medicine

09/20/12

Wall Street Journal

Bank of America is accelerating its job cuts, aiming to trim 16,000 positions by the end of the year, according to a front-page story in the paper.

U.S. prosecutors have asked the banks under investigation in the Libor affair to sign "tolling" agreements, in which they promise not to challenge any enforcement actions on the grounds that the five-year statute of limitations had expired. Why would the banks agree to waive a defense against...

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'Damnit Lloyd, I'm a CFO, Not a Chief Risk Officer'

09/19/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Goldman CFO to Retire: David Viniar, who has served as Goldman Sachs' chief financial officer since its 1999 IPO, plans to retire in January and take a "non-independent" seat on the board. The 57-year-old will be succeeded by Harvey Schwartz, nine years his junior, in what the Journal describes as Goldman's "first nod to a group of younger leaders." In another Journal story, analyst Meredith Whitney is quoted interpreting Viniar's retirement as...

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Square Gets a Big Infusion; Hard Times for Swiss Banks

09/18/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Mobile Payments: Jack Dorsey's Square closed on a $200 million financing round that the papers say values the mobile-payments company at about $3.25 billion. The Journal's "Heard on the Street" column uses the occasion to offer a succinct overview of the disruptive implications of mobile payments technologies. Not only are the makers of cash registers and swipe terminals threatened (Nordstrom, for example, plans to go "completely mobile" in its department stores), so...

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QE3 Looking Good for Big Banks, Not Consumers; Ditch Basel III?; Money-Laundering Crackdown

09/17/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

QE3,the Weekend After: The analysis of whether the Federal Reserve's latest round of quantitative easing is likely to accomplish anything continues. The Journal suggests big bank stocks will get a boost from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's big move since it will increase lending and bank-revenue growth. It's also likely to underpin "the nascent housing recovery" and "extend the recent refinancing wave that has lifted mortgage revenue at a host of banks." But,...

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Fed QE3 is Here with No End in Sight; Isis Hits a Snag

09/14/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ... QE3 Forever?: The Federal Reserve Thursday outlined its latest plan to spur job growth and bolster the economy. The basic steps include the purchase of $85 billion in long-term bonds a month through the rest of the year, the subsequent addition of $40 billion of mortgage-backed debt per month until the job market gets better and low interest rates through at least mid-2015. Stocks rallied following the announcement of this indefinite QE3,...

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FSA Fines and Bans Bank Executive for Role in HBOS' Collapse, JPMorgan Keeps Reshuffling

09/13/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Banished: The U.K.'s Financial Services Authority has banned former head of corporate lending at HBOS Peter Cummings from working in the country's financial services industry for his role in the bank's collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. Cummings was also fined £500,000 ($805,000), which the Journal notes is "the highest fine imposed by the FSA on a senior executive for management failings." The FSA imposed the penalties because it believes Cummings "pursued...

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How to Make Over $4,600 an Hour While in Prison and Other Lessons from the IRS' $104 Million Whistleblower Payout

09/12/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

A Golden Age for Whistleblowers?: The Internal Revenue Service has awarded Bradley Birkenfeld, a convicted former banker, $104 million for the role he played in exposing the aid Swiss bank UBS provided to wealthy clients in a decades-long effort to help them evade paying taxes. According to the Journal, details provided by Birkenfeld ultimately led UBS "to turn over the names of more than 4,000 account holders who were U.S. taxpayers and...

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