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Morning Scan: Fed's Big 'Stress Test' Reveal Ahead

06/21/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

The Federal Reserve has a way of injecting "stress" back into the term "stress tests" — at least for Bank of American and Citigroup, which have both stumbled during the examinations in recent years.

An analysis by the Wall Street Journal finds that the two banks could have returned as much as $24 billion more to shareholders if the level of dividends and share buybacks they offered had matched those of competitor Wells...

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Morning Scan: DAO Attack Aftermath; IEX Approved

06/20/16

Receiving Wide Coverage...

DAO-saster: If there's a simple rule for bank robbing, it's "follow the money."

As investors and consumers put their funds online and adopt new technologies — like cryptocurrency — so go the outlaws.

That appears to be one takeaway from Friday morning's theft of more than $50 million of the digital currency Ether. The hackers targeted the Decentralized Autonomous Organization, a fund built around the currency, which could spell the project's demise. ...

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Morning Scan: FSOC: We Played by Rules in MetLife Designation

06/17/16

Receiving Wide CoverageÂ... Round 2: Right now, the score is MetLife: 1, FSOC: 0. But the government is looking to even the odds. MetLife won a major victory in federal district court this spring when a judge threw out its "systemically important" label, ruling that the Financial Stability Oversight Council fell short in proving that the insurer deserved the designation. Â...

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Women in Banking: Mind the (Gender) Gap; Men's Work-Life Balance

06/16/16

Study of financial services offers grim outlook for gender parity, as Patti Husic and Katia Bouazza talk about where change really begins; Maria Vullo vows to forge her own identity as New York's banking watchdog (sans boots); and male CEOs talk about how they maintain work-life balance. Plus, the significance of women wearing pants ( Â... if not boots).

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Morning Scan: Home Depot Plays Chip Card in Suit vs. Card Networks

06/16/16

Receiving Wide Coverage…

No Rate Hike. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post.

Eternal Feud: It's the banking sector's version of the Hatfields and the McCoys: the merchants and the card companies are at it again. And this time, there's a tech twist.

Home Depot has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard, charging that retailers pay too much on transactions from debit and credit cards and that the card issuers are in cahoots...

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Morning Scan: Synchrony Rattles Markets; Flash Boys Redux

06/15/16

Receiving Wide Coverage…

Credit-quality alert: How are the consumer credit markets doing? To quote the Magic 8-Ball: "outlook not so good."

Synchrony Financial, the largest U.S. issuer of private-label credit cards, said Tuesday that its chargeoff rate is likely to rise by 20 to 30 basis points over the next year, as some borrowers struggle to get on top of overdue payments. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times ...

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Morning Scan: New Finra Chief; More Basel Hand-Wringing

06/14/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Finra's New Boss: Former Securities and Exchange Commission official Robert Cook will take the helm as chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority later this year. The move comes as the self-policing body expands its oversight of stock market trading activities and rogue employees. Though it's historically been criticized by some for levying meager fines against the financial industry, Finra has been flexing its muscle lately, according to the Wall Street Journal.Â...

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Morning Scan: CFPB's Pricey Ad Campaign; a Basel Gambit?

06/13/16

Wall Street Journal Election season is heating up, but the presidential candidates aren't the only ones shelling out for advertising. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching its own campaign to educate the public about its online tools and resources. As such, the agency is now devoting a larger portion of its budget to advertising compared with nearly every other federal agency, according to a review of government records by the Wall Street Journal. Â...

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Women in Banking: Cathy Bessant on Fintech; Rebecca Mairone Case Reversed

06/09/16

Bank of America's Cathy Bessant talks about the marriage of banking and technology and former Countrywide executive Rebecca Mairone reflects on being one the few people in the industry to face criminal charges in the wake of the financial crisis. Also, could there be an all-female presidential ticket? Now that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, some wonder if Elizabeth Warren would consider being her running mate.

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Morning Scan: CFPB Dodging FOIA; Living Will Deadline Extended

06/09/16

Wall Street Journal

Online lender Prosper has paused its relationships with loan-referral websites LendingTree and Credit Karma as it works to get investors to buy more loans. Marketplace lenders have been facing a slowdown and waning investor confidence, especially since events at rival Lending Club led to the ousting of its chief executive. Prosper's lending volume is expected to fall in the second quarter. It fell 12% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of...

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