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Morning Scan: Rebound in Bank Stocks Not Expected Soon; Stress Test Complaints

03/16/15

Wall Street Journal

Tap the brakes on those hopes for a rebound in bank stocks in the near future. The same old worries bank investors know so well are expected to continue this year, analysts and investors told the Wall Street Journal. Low interest rates will continue to compress profit margins. Excessive U.S. regulations continue to drive up costs. Legal bills will also remain elevated. These reasons are cited by analysts and money managers quoted in...

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Morning Scan: Mastering the Art of Stress Tests; SEC's Tough Enough, Says White

03/13/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Practice Makes Perfect: Have U.S. banks finally cracked the code on stress tests? Whatever your opinion, there's an article that will reaffirm it. The Wall Street Journal suggests the Fed's annual capital review still keeps banks guessing, pointing out that Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley all overshot their proposed shareholder payouts by a significant margin. They collectively shaved off at least $11 billion in payouts in order to meet theÂ...

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Morning Scan: Muddling Through Stress Tests; Do Big Banks Need Fresh Blood?

03/12/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Stress Test Wrap: All 31 of the biggest U.S. banks managed to pass the Fed's stress tests this year, but for four of them it was less a "flying colors" sort of victory and more about muddling through. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley received approval for their capital-payout plans only after adjusting them to ensure their capital ratios stayed above minimum requirements. Bank of America got conditional approval to go...

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Morning Scan: Boost for Bitcoin; More Stress Test Stress

03/11/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Bitcoin's Big Coming Out: So maybe Bitcoin isn't just for money launderers and drug dealers. Some well-placed folks must think Bitcoin has a role in the mainstream. Two examples emerged on Tuesday of new efforts to expand Bitcoin's use by the broader establishment. Blythe Masters, a former JPMorgan Chase executive, has been named chief executive of Digital Asset Holdings, a new Bitcoin trading platform. Masters helped pioneer the credit-derivatives market in the...

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Morning Scan: Feds Worried About Nomura Litigation?; Cuomo Blasted

03/10/15

Wall Street Journal

An unsigned Journal editorial makes the argument that the feds are scared out of their wits by the potential of going to a jury trial in a case involving mortgage-backed securities. Japanese bank Nomura Â-- one of the 18 banks named in the Federal Housing Finance Agency 's 2011 lawsuit Â-- is willing to fight the government's lawsuit claiming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were victimized by the banks, which didn't inform the...

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Morning Scan: Credit Agencies Agree to Revamp Dispute Process; Stress-Test Prep

03/09/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Credit-Reporting Shakeup: Three credit-reporting giants have agreed to change the way they handle errors and unpaid medical bills in a deal with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will carry out most of the changes on a nationwide scale in what the Wall Street Journal calls "the biggest reform for the credit-reporting industry since 2003." The settlement includes two big changes, according to the paper, which got...

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Morning Scan: Apple Pay Takes Flak for Fraud; How Useful Are Fed Stress Tests?

03/06/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Taking Stock of the Stress Tests: All 31 banks subject to the Federal Reserve's stress tests had enough capital to survive the central bank's crisis scenario, but many in the media say this may not be the most reliable indicator of how banks would manage in a real recession. The problem is it's hard to predict what a crisis will actually look like, Stanford finance and economics professor Anat Admati tells the...

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Morning Scan: NY Fed Loses Authority Over Big Banks; The Shadow Banking Threat

03/05/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Blast from the Fed's Past: Newly released transcripts from the Federal Reserve's 2009 policy meetings offer fresh insight in the mindsets of central bank officials during the rocky aftermath of the financial crisis. The New York Times' Neil Irwin condemns the Fed for worrying so much about the consequences of their actions that they hesitated to adopt stronger measures at the time. "By 2009 virtually the entire committee had a clear understanding...

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Morning Scan: CFPB to Issue Mandatory Arbitration Proposal; Apple Pay Fraud

03/04/15

Wall Street Journal

Is this the first wave of backlash to Apple Pay? Or was it simply to be expected that it was only a matter of time before hackers cracked the Apple Pay code? Either way, some banks say they've seen an increasing amount of fraud on Apple Pay devices. The weakness in the system is apparently related to the verification process associated with a user adding a credit card to the service, unnamed sources...

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Morning Scan: Stressed About Stress Tests; Buffett Bites Bankers

03/03/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Nothing But Stress: Foreign banks are stressed about the stress tests. Deutsche Bank and Santander are both expected to be called out by the Federal Reserve on Thursday, when the stress test results are announced, for lapses in risk management. Capital isn't the issue with foreign banks. Instead, it's how they measure and predict risks and losses. DB, Santander, Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC and UBS are "now spending heavily and recruiting projectÂ...

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