national-regional

Morning Scan: Amex Fee Deal Blows Up; Jeb Bush on Wall Street

08/05/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

AmEx Deal Upset: Sometimes even "burn after reading" instructions aren't enough to cover up improper behavior. A federal judge threw out the proposed $79 million antitrust settlement between American Express and merchants Tuesday, finding that negotiations were "fatally tainted" when lawyers from opposing sides shared confidential documents. That's a big win for merchants hoping to reach an alternative deal that will give them more leeway in passing the cost of interchange fees...

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Morning Scan: To Catch a Money Launderer; Promontory vs. New York Regulators

08/04/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Bad Day for Promontory: Get ready for a battle of the titans: New York's banking regulator versus financial consulting heavyweight Promontory Financial Group. New York's Department of Financial Services on Monday suspended Promontory from consulting with banks licensed in the state, accusing the firm of covering up the extent of Standard Chartered's sanctions violations in a 2011 report. ...

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Morning Scan: HSBC Sells Brazil Unit; Former Mt. Gox CEO Arrested

08/03/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

'World's Local Bank' No More: HSBC has agreed to sell its Brazilian unit to Banco Bradesco for $5.2 billion as the bank seeks to scale down and concentrate on its Asian operations. The bank pledged in June to cut 50,000 jobs and retreat from low-performing business lines, with the goal of reducing annual costs by up to $5 billion by the end of 2017. The papers note the bank's retrenchment is a...

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Morning Scan: U.S. Investments Banks Have Upper Hand on European Rivals; Student Loans for the Rich

07/31/15

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. may be second fiddle to Europe in the Ryder Cup golf competition, but that's not the case when it comes to investment banking. As Europe's large banks with big investment bank operations talk about doom and gloom, and as their shares plummet, their U.S. counterparts are moving in the opposite direction. ...

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Women in Banking: B of A's New Stress-Testing Boss; Yellen's Report Card

07/30/15

Bank of America puts an HR exec in charge of stress testing, a look at how Yellen compares to Bernanke at the 18-month mark as Fed chair, Sen. Collins tries to help small banks and Cullen/Frost shuffles some key executives.

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Morning Scan: UBS Case Highlights Clintons' Corporate Ties; Banks Push Derivatives for Capital Help

07/30/15

Wall Street Journal Hillary Clinton's connections to UBS, which has made donations to the family's charitable foundation, comes under the spotlight in a lengthy article. While secretary of state, Clinton worked out a deal between UBS and the Internal Revenue Service; the IRS was trying to obtain information on Americans suspected of trying to dodge taxes through secret Swiss bank accounts. Following Clinton's involvement in the matter, which was seen to have greatly helped UBS, theÂ...

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Higher Interest Rates Won't Solve Banks' Problems

07/29/15

While rising rates may temporarily improve net interest margin and profits, they will not increase bank stock prices for at least three reasons.

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Morning Scan: Home Prices Flatten in Potential Good News for Buyers; RBS' Citizens Sell-Off

07/29/15

Wall Street Journal

The rate of home-price appreciation has slowed, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for May, which economists say is a good sign more potential buyers will soon be able to afford to buy. After home prices increased at low double-digit percentage rates per month in 2013, price gains per month this year have hovered just above 4%. A recent report from the National Association of Realtors was somewhat misleading. NAR said median...

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Morning Scan: Merchants Seek Dismissal of $6B Credit Card Settlement; Faulty Credit Reports Targeted

07/28/15

Wall Street Journal

If you can't trust your lawyer, who can you trust? Visa, MasterCard and millions of merchants may see the $6 billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit go up in smoke. The reason is what a legal ethics expert described as "gross misbehavior" by the lawyers involved. The settlement resolved a lawsuit alleging the credit-card networks engaged in price-fixing when they banned merchants from charging customers more when they used a credit card instead...

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Morning Scan: B of A to Pledge $75B to Climate Change Lending; Citi, B of A Shares Lag

07/27/15

Wall Street Journal

Bank of America is one of more than a dozen companies expected to sign an agreement Monday at the White House to address climate change. B of A and others will invest more than $140 billion to reduce carbon emissions. B of A specifically will commit $75 billion through lending and other financing by 2025; it's on top of a previous commitment of $50 billion by B of A. None of the companies...

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