national-global

Morning Scan: Commerzbank in Regulatory Sights; Banks' Cost-Cutting Not Enough

07/08/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

U.S. Trains Sights on Commerzbank: U.S. regulators are accusing another European bank of violating U.S. economic sanctions after striking an $8.9 billion deal with French lender BNP Paribas over the same charge last week. Germany's Commerzbank is on the hot seat for allegedly doing business with companies in Iran and Sudan, according to the New York Times. Because Germany owns 17% of Commerzbank, the Times wonders whether "settlement talks could inflame diplomatic...

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Morning Scan: Debating the Ex-Im Bank's Future; Banks Scrap Remittances

07/07/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Debating the Export-Import Bank: Supporters of the Export-Import Bank are fighting back against the House Republicans who want to scrap it. Each member of Congress will receive in the coming weeks, "a personalized index card laying out exactly which companies in their districts benefit from the financing agency and how many people they employ" according to the Wall Street Journal. Companies including General Electric and Boeing, along with industry groups such as...

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Morning Scan: Dimon Praised; Yellen on Bubble Popping

07/03/14

Yellen Holds on Low Rates: The Federal Reserve should not raise interest rates in order to battle financial bubbles, according to a speech delivered by the central bank's chairwoman Janet Yellen Wednesday. Her remarks suggest that the Fed is "more interested in having a resilient financial system that can cope when asset bubbles burst than it is in popping them through rate rises," the Financial Times reports. While monetary policy is an efficient means ofÂ...

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Morning Scan: JPM's Dimon to Keep Working During Cancer Treatment

07/02/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Dimon Diagnosed with Throat Cancer: The doctors caught it early, it's curable, and the JPMorgan CEO will undergo treatment over the next two months while continuing to work (though limiting his travel). "There isn't a specific individual who will take over Mr. Dimon's responsibilities as his schedule eases while he undergoes treatment," reports the Journal, citing a company spokesman. "The board has succession plans focusing on immediate, three-year and five-to-seven-year time frames."...

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Morning Scan: BNP Paribas's 'Tour de Fraud'

07/01/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

'Tour de Fraud,' $8.9B Fine Drive BNP Share Price Up: Are multibillion dollar fines investor catnip? BNP Paribas's stock price opened 3.4% higher on Tuesday, following Monday's announcement that the bank settled with the U.S. government on an $8.9 billion fine for sanctions violations. The markets may have been soothed by the bank's statement that despite the fine it would be able to pay a cash dividend this quarter. Overall, BNP's share...

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Morning Scan: Markets Too Euphoric: BIS; BNP Details Emerge

06/30/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Buoyant Markets Worry BIS: The financial markets are "euphoric" despite uncertain economic and geopolitical outlooks and that worries the Bank for International Settlements, according to its annual report Sunday. The BIS finds the "buoyancy" in the markets "puzzling," according to the Wall Street Journal. And we all know what that means. Any time there are headlines or stories about things like "irrational exuberance" in the markets, it means financial officials are worried...

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Morning Scan: BNP's $8.9B Deal Expected Monday; Will Dark Pools Dry Up?

06/27/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Barclays' Dark Pool Dries Up: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's civil lawsuit against Barclays is proving bad for the British lender's business. Big banks including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Canada ditched the lender's dark pool on Thursday in the wake of allegations that Barclays mislead investors about its dealings with high-frequency traders. Meanwhile, Barclay's dark pool trading venue "was overloaded by a high volume of inquiries from...

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Morning Scan: Worrying About the GDP Drop; Risk Officers Get Respect

06/26/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Translating Tarullo: The Federal Reserve plans to step up year-round oversight of big banks to ensure they are able to pass stress tests, Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo said in a Wednesday speech. The thrust of Tarullo's remarks suggest a push "to centralize the oversight of Wall Street in Washington," according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper focuses on how the stress-test failures of both Zions Bancorp and Citigroup may have been...

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Morning Scan: Ex-Im Fight Heats Up on Hill; Good and Bad in New Housing Data

06/25/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Serious Ex-Im Waves: Geez, when's the last time the Export-Import Bank of the United States was in all the morning headlines? The charter of the government provider of loan guarantees and other support to promote trade expires this fall, and some Republican lawmakers Â-- including some on the rise, like House Majority Leader-to-be Kevin McCarthy Â-- are threatening to not renew it because they see it as corporate welfare. The Wall Street...

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Morning Scan: Costs of Climate Change; Barofsky's New Watchdog Gig?

06/24/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

New Obstacle for Securities-Fraud Suits: A Supreme Court ruling on Monday added a hurdle to investors' efforts to win class-action lawsuits over claims of securities fraud. Companies defending themselves against such lawsuits can now attempt to get them thrown out of court by proving at an early legal stage that misleading statements did not have an impact on stock prices. But the decision in the case of Halliburton v. Erica P. John...

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