banking industry

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Just Call These New Rules 'The Lloyd Blankfein Act'

Part of Obama's proposed regulations are aimed at Goldman and its CEO

(Newser) - One part of the new financial regulations proposed by President Obama today could be called the "Lloyd Blankfein Act" because it's aimed squarely at Goldman Sachs and its "unrepentant CEO," writes Daniel Gross. The proposal would prevent banks from taking FDIC-insured deposits and then doing "funky...

China Lenders Step Up as Western Banks Struggle

Overseas loans soar as China moves beyond US debt

(Newser) - China's state-owned banks tripled their lending this year, even as Western banks were scaling back, becoming the principal engine of global recovery and life-savers for many international corporations. Beneficiaries range from Southwest Airlines to Dubai's Civil Aviation Authority to Foster's brewery in Australia, the Washington Post notes, in what seems...

Credit Reform May Drain $9B in Holiday Sales

Consumer protections result in lower limits, less spending

(Newser) - The impending enactment of new credit card law is poised to rob retailers of $9 billion in holiday sales compared to last year. The law, designed to protect consumers from rates being raised on the sly and sneaky fees, already has led to lower credit limits and more rejected applications...

UK to Scrap Paper Checks in 2018

Opponents argue that infirm, elderly will be disadvantaged

(Newser) - The UK plans to phase out the paper check in 2018. Officials say they'll use the next 8 years to push for innovation in payments in the country, especially electronic methods. There is robust opposition to the plan, the Telegraph reports, but the Payment Council—a semi-governmental UK entity made...

Obama Unloads on 'Fat Cat Bankers' Who 'Still Don't Get It'

Prez comes out firing in 60 Minutes interview

(Newser) - Ordinary Americans astonished by the gall of Wall Street banks that accepted federal bailout funds and awarded huge bonuses have a friend in a very high place: the White House. "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street,...

Choose, America: Big Banks or Middle Class
 Choose, America: 
 Big Banks or Middle Class 
ELIZABETH WARREN
Dec 3, 2009 11:10 AM CST

Choose, America: Big Banks or Middle Class

Bank shenanigans are destroying the building block of America

(Newser) - The inevitable consequence of letting big banks run wild is nothing less than the extinction of the American middle class. "Unthinkable,” Elizabeth Warren writes—but a real and dire possibility. Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, has seen the numbers, and they aren't pretty....

Quarter of US Households Have Limited Bank Access

Minorities, low-income families hit hardest

(Newser) - A quarter of US households have little or no access to banks—relying instead on nontraditional services such as check-cashing shops, pawn shops, or payday loans, and often paying exorbitant interest rates. The first comprehensive survey of its kind by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. showed that 71% of families...

UK Weighs Super-Tough Bank Bonus Laws

Banks to be ordered to reveal numbers of millionaire staff

(Newser) - British bankers will soon face the toughest bonus rules in the world, according to the author of a report the government is pushing to implement. Bonus payments will be delayed for up to 5 years under the planned legislation, and banks will have the power to "claw back" bonuses...

Danger Signs Ignored at Failed Banks

Regulators knew loans were toxic but didn't act

(Newser) - "Post-mortems" on banks that failed during the financial crisis are exposing serious misjudgment by state and federal regulators. Inspectors-general are finding at bank after bank that regulators were aware that risky and potentially toxic loans were being made while the economy was booming, but failed to take action, the...

Credit Cards Rates Jump Ahead of New Regulations

Companies add fees and cut limits in blind cash grab

(Newser) - If your credit card bill just exploded, it wasn’t an accident. Card issuers have been jacking up rates to historic highs—in excess of 30%—cutting limits, and adding new fees in an effort to squeeze money out of customers before new federal regulations kick in Feb. 22. The...

New Pay Rules May Hurt Banks, but Protect Public
New Pay Rules May Hurt Banks, but Protect Public
Steven Pearlstein
Oct 23, 2009 8:33 AM CDT

New Pay Rules May Hurt Banks, but Protect Public

They'll discourage commercial banks from being investment banks

(Newser) - Steven Pearlstein isn't exactly wowed by the new salary rules being proposed for Wall Street. "Don't get carried away. By themselves, these measures won't prevent future crises, nor will they likely do much to lower the prevailing pay levels on Wall Street or in corporate America." But, he...

Bank Reform Shatters Usual Party Lines
Bank Reform Shatters Usual Party Lines
NATE SILVER
Oct 22, 2009 11:37 AM CDT

Bank Reform Shatters Usual Party Lines

Next big domestic issue will be 'fascinating' to watch

(Newser) - Once health care reform is “settled,” Nate Silver writes, the White House will be searching for a new domestic issue. Card check is too hard, immigration will have to wait for 2012’s “younger, more diverse electorate,” and gay rights is a slog. The winner, in...

Wall Street Cools to Dems Despite Bailout

Financial regulation tough talk hurting donations

(Newser) - Some gratitude: Wall Street’s top firms will largely sit out Barack Obama’s lavish Democratic Party fundraiser in New York tonight, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Citigroup sending a scant half-dozen representatives or fewer. Some Democratic fundraisers and executives tell the New York Times that bailout banks are afraid...

Pay Czar Blocks Salary for Ken Lewis

BofA CEO will return $1M and forgo any pay this year

(Newser) - President Obama's pay czar has landed his biggest punch yet: Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis will forgo any pay this year and return $1 million he's already accepted. But don't start up a collection just yet: The reason Kenneth Feinberg made the request is because Lewis will receive about...

Banks Yanking Homeowners' Last Hope: Short Sales

Healthier lenders no longer anxious to cut deals

(Newser) - As banks get healthier, they're getting stingier with one of the few remaining lifelines for underwater homeowners—short sales. To keep home sales moving in leaner times—and to get bad loans off their ledgers—lenders would forgive the difference between the outstanding mortgage balance and the purchase price. Such...

Goldman Nemesis Says Bank Misleading Lawmakers

(Newser) - Matt Taibbi, who portrayed Goldman Sachs as evil personified in a much-discussed Rolling Stone article over the summer, has the bank in his sights again. In his blog on True/Slant, Taibbi accuses Goldman of misleading and purposely confusing lawmakers about the practice known as naked short selling as new financial...

US Bankers' Pay Is World's Highest—by Far

(Newser) - US bank CEOs are paid drastically more than their counterparts around the world. The CEO of Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in the world, brings home just $234,700 a year—or roughly 2% of JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon’s $19.6 million haul. The US has...

Goldman May Break Charter to Duck Pay Rules

Investors see financial giant shedding year-old bank status

(Newser) - With the Federal Reserve busily drafting rules to limit pay for bank executives, some investors believe Goldman Sachs will simply stop being a bank, Reuters reports. By shedding its year-old commercial banking charter, acquired in the heat of the financial meltdown to ensure access to credit, Goldman could elude restrictions...

FDIC Fund Falls to $10.4B as Banks Struggle

Government will likely have to charge bank fees to replenish it

(Newser) - The FDIC's fund for protecting bank deposits fell in June to just $10.4 billion—the lowest balance since the savings and loan crisis—all but ensuring that the government will have to levy new fees on banks to replenish it, the Wall Street Journal reports. The fund topped $45....

Despite Obama Push, Banks Often Prefer Foreclosing

(Newser) - There’s a big problem with government efforts to keep delinquents in their homes by modifying mortgages: Banks would usually rather foreclose, economists tell the Washington Post. Lenders are only interested in modification for the small group of borrowers who will keep paying only if they get help. For those...

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