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Morning Scan: MetLife's 'SIFI' Case; Wells Takes Case to TV

10/25/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Court hears SIFI appeal: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard arguments from the federal government on Monday that MetLife is a "systemically important financial institution" and requires stricter regulation. The Financial Stability Oversight Council voted in December 2014 that the insurance company was a "SIFI" but was overruled by a U.S. district court judge earlier this year. The FSOC is now appealing that decision. "Beyond issues related...

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Morning Scan: TD Ameritrade Buying Scottrade; Visa and Blockchain

10/24/16

Breaking News This Morning ...

Discount brokers to merge: TD Ameritrade is buying rival Scottrade for $4 billion. The combined company will have $944 billion in client assets and execute 600,000 client trades a day. TD says the merger will enable the two companies to cut costs by $450 million a year. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times Wall Street Journal ...

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Morning Scan: Bank Penalties Weigh on Global Growth

10/21/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

More pressure on Wells: Two Democrat senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, asked Wells Fargo's chairman if the board had sufficiently questioned Timothy Sloan about his knowledge of the bank's phony accounts scandal before appointing him chief executive officer. "It is difficult to believe that he had no knowledge of or bears no responsibility for the actions of thousands of Wells Fargo employees creating fake accounts," the...

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Women in Banking: Warren vs. White; Men on Work-Life Balance

10/20/16

Mary Mack is beginning damage control as she overhauls Wells' sales culture; Dorothy Savarese talks diversity of bank sizes as she becomes chairman of the ABA; and Elizabeth Warren implores the president to demote Mary Jo White. Also, industry manbassadors talk work-life balance and the importance of flexibility for women as Visa's CEO resigns to devote more time to family. And a couple of small activist firms are taking on gender bias at the world's largest companies.

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Morning Scan: California Probes Wells; Amex Raises Outlook

10/20/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

More trouble for Wells: The California Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo to determine if bank employees engaged in criminal identity theft and false impersonation to open accounts for customers without their permission. "There is probable cause to believe that employees of Wells Fargo Bank unlawfully accessed the bank's computer system to obtain the PII [personally identifiable information] of customers," the state's affidavit said. "The bank's employees...

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Morning Scan: S&P Negative on Wells; Morgan Stanley Profit Jumps 57%

10/19/16

Breaking News This Morning ...

Morgan Stanley beats estimates: Morgan Stanley reported a third quarter profit of $1.6 billion, or 81 cents a share, up 57% from $1.02 billion, or 48 cents a share, in the year ago period. That easily beat the median Street forecast of 63 cents. Revenue rose 15% to $8.91 billion from $7.77 billion, also beating analysts' estimates of $8.17 billion. As with its peers on Wall Street, which reported earlier, the...

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To Advance Women in Banking, Mandate Paid Family Leave

10/18/16

Many have linked the gender gap in financial services to the difficulties in balancing work pressures with family demands. To help address this, paid family leave should be compulsory in the industry.

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Morning Scan: Big Quarter for Goldman; Visa CEO Steps Down

10/18/16

Breaking News This Morning ...

Goldman's earnings soar: Goldman Sachs's third quarter earnings jumped 47% versus the year-ago period as trading revenue rose 17%. The bank earned $2.09 billion, or $4.88 a share, easily beating analysts' estimates of $3.82 a share. A year earlier it earned $1.43 billion, or $2.90 a share. Revenue rose 19% to $8.17 billion from $6.86 billion, well above Street forecasts of $7.42 billion. Return on equity climbed to 11.2%, up from...

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Morning Scan: B of A Beats; Is Wells Doing Enough?

10/17/16

Breaking News This Morning

B of A beats: Bank of America reported earnings of $4.96 billion, or 41 cents a share, for the third quarter, compared to $4.62 billion, or 38 cents a share, in the same period of 2015. That beat analyst estimates of 34 cents a share. Revenue rose about 3% to $21.6 billion, beating Street forecasts of $20.97 billion. Receiving Wide Coverage ... ...

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Morning Scan: Wells Crisis Analyzed; JPM' $6.3B Profit

10/14/16

Breaking News This Morning ...

Earnings season opens: Analysts are expecting a "downbeat" third quarter from U.S. banks, which began reporting earnings results on Friday. The combined profits for the big six banks are expected to fall about 9% to $20.1 billion compared to the same period last year, the Financial Times says. One reason is a 0.1% decline in business lending. "Although small, the contraction from the prior quarter is the first such drop in...

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