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Morning Scan: Crackdown on Payday Lenders; Banks Beef Up Card Security

01/05/15

Wall Street Journal

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is exploring a potential new regulation to require payday lenders to make sure borrowers can repay their loans, anonymice tell the Wall Street Journal. The proposal is expected to be discussed early this year in a panel of small lenders the CFPB plans to convene. Such a rule would please consumer advocates, who also want the CFPB to require payday lenders to verify borrowers' incomes, expenses and credit...

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Morning Scan: Deck the Halls and Close Brokers' Loopholes; Title Lending Boom

12/29/14

Wall Street Journal

It's about to get harder for brokers to hide their dirty laundry from clients, according to the paper. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will begin sharing with state insurance regulators a monthly list of securities brokers who have been banned or suspended from the industry. The move stems from concerns that regulatory gaps have allowed some brokers to continue peddling financial products to clients even after they have been nailed for misconduct. A...

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New Finance Redefines What's Possible

12/29/14

Innovations in payments and e-commerce are just getting started. The world of "New Finance" is one of endless possibilities.

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Morning Scan: Ocwen's Mortgage Settlement Raises Concerns; Could JPMorgan Cyberattack Have Be Prevented?

12/23/14

Editor's note: Morning Scan will publish next on Dec. 29. Happy holidays from all of us at American Banker and SourceMedia. Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Investors Worry About Ocwen: Ocwen Financial's legal settlement with New York state banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky led to a sharp drop in its share price on Monday, as investors expressed concern about the company's ability to move past the settlement's onerous terms. Among those terms: William Erbey will step down as chairman...

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Morning Scan: Volcker Lashes Out; Erbey to Be Forced Out as Ocwen Chair

12/22/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

'Eternal' Lobbying: Banks got a big win on Thursday when the Fed agreed to delay a part of the Volcker Rule. And former Fed Chair Paul Volcker was none too pleased. In a statement distributed on Friday, Volcker criticized banks for their "eternal" lobbying to avoid having to comply with the rule. "It is striking, that the world's leading investment bankers, noted for their cleverness and agility in advising clients on how...

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Weekly Wrap: Will Wall Street Regret Its Budget-Bill Coup?

12/19/14

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

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Morning Scan: Smoking-Gun Memo Leads to Big Fines; Mobile Banking Study

12/19/14

Wall Street Journal Fresno, Calif.: home of raisin farms, a college football team called the Bulldogs, and (who knew?) a federal prosecutor's office that dug up the memo that led to $37 billion in bank fines stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis. The Journal reports on Richard Elias, an assistant U.S. Attorney who discovered JPMorgan Chase documents while working in the Justice Department's Fresno office that led to successful prosecutions of big banks. The JPMorgan memosÂ...

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Morning Scan: A Patient Fed; Whistle While You Work

12/18/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Fed Stays Patient: As expected, the Fed said on Wednesday that it would remain patient when it comes to raising interest rates, and the Journal, New York Times, Financial Times and Washington Post all produced reports on the Fed's meeting. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the Fed will likely raise interest rates next year, but no sooner than late April, as the central bank exercises patience in waiting for the precise momentÂ...

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Morning Scan: Is the Fed 'Patient'?; B of A, Citi Stumble on Mortgage Settlement

12/17/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fed's New Patience?: Looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement this afternoon and Fed Chair Janet Yellen's briefing, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times offer contrasting views on the million-dollar question of when rates could rise. The Journal says the Fed and Yellen may very well drop from the official statement that the Federal Open Market Committee expects to keep short-term rates near zero for "a considerable...

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Morning Scan: British Banks, Except Co-Op, Pass Stress Test; Ocwen's Troubles

12/16/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

British Stress-Testing: One bank, Co-operative Bank, failed the Bank of England's stress test, while Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group passed...but barely . The tests were "demanding," but the results show British banks are "significantly more resilient" than last year, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said. RBS and Lloyds' results were made more palatable by the fact that both have already installed programs to boost their capital levels (although...

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