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• Over 750 Banks at Risk of Failing, Stress-Tester Warns
  While last year's 92 bank failures seemed like progress when compared to the 157 that closed their doors in 2010, there's more trouble ahead. At least 758 lending institutions are at risk of failure over the next two years, a stress-tester has warned. Invictus Consulting...
• BofA, JPMorgan Chase Sued by New York Over Mortgage Registry
  Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo Co. and JPMorgan Chase Co. were sued by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over the creation and use of a mortgage database. The banks use of the database, known as MERS, has led to deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure...
• Fed Still Divided as Fisher Sees No Need for More Easing
  A third round of large-scale asset purchases by the Federal Reserve is not needed and would compound the difficulties of tightening monetary policy when the time finally comes, a top Fed official said. Personally I don't see how you can justify it given the state of the...
• Swiss Launch Competition Probe Against UBS, Credit Suisse
  The Swiss Competition Commission said Friday it has launched an investigation into possible cartel behavior by a dozen banks including the country's two biggest institutions UBS and Credit Suisse.The banks are suspected of colluding to influence key interest rates and the...
• Swiss Bank Wegelin Charged With Helping US Clients Evade Taxes
  The United States indicted Wegelin, the oldest Swiss private bank, on charges that it enabled wealthy Americans to evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion hidden in offshore bank accounts, the U.S. Justice Department said. . The announcement, by federal prosecutors in...
• Wall Street Split as Money Managers Fault Bank Foreclosure Deal
  Wall Street s biggest lobbying group is split over a proposed settlement of state and federal foreclosure probes, after a committee of money managers signaled it opposes terms letting banks push some costs onto bondholders.The Securities Industry and Financial Markets...
• Bernanke: I Won’t Tolerate Inflation to Boost Employment
  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke defended the central bank s newly established price goal and rejected suggestions he was prepared to allow higher inflation to create jobs. We are not seeking higher inflation, Bernanke said yesterday in response to questioning from...
• Former MF Global Official: I Warned Corzine of Risky Bets
  The former chief risk officer of MF Global says he warned then-CEO Jon Corzine in late 2010 of the risks in large bets on European government debt. Those bets sank the brokerage firm last fall.Michael Roseman, who left MF Global in January 2011, testified Thursday at a...
• Rate on 30-Year Mortgage Falls to Record 3.87 Percent
  The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell this week to a record low, the ninth time that has happened in the last year. Even with the cheapest rates in history, the housing market remains depressed. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the...
• Bernanke Defends Fed's Rate Policy, Urges Caution in Deficit Cutting
  Ben Bernanke defended the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates at record-low levels for the next three years, during a contentious hearing before federal lawmakers. The Fed chief told the House Budget Committee Thursday that the central bank's plan is an...
• Deutsche Bank Results Hit by Eurozone Debt Crisis
  The eurozone debt crisis took its toll on Germany's Deutsche Bank and its investment banking businesses, sending fourth-quarter net profits down 69 percent to 186 million euros ($245.06 million).Net profits fell far short of analyst estimates of 492.5 million euros, as...
• Facebook Surrenders Its Privacy in IPO Documents
  Facebook is baring its business soul.The unveiling came late Wednesday when the company that depends on people to share their lives online filed its plans to raise $5 billion in an initial public offering of stock. It's a revelatory moment that prospective investors,...
• Wealthy Investors Shrug at Facebook IPO After Private Purchases
  Wealthy investors aren t clamoring for a piece of Facebook Inc. s initial public offering because some own the stock through private transactions while others shy away from risky technology deals, according to advisers. It s kind of the late arrivals who get excited around...
• US Weighs 30% ‘Buffett Rule’ Tax on Millionaires
  Millionaires would pay a minimum 30 percent effective tax rate under a law introduced on Wednesday in the Senate with the backing of President Barack Obama and named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Nicknamed the Buffett Rule, the tax bill reflects Democrat...
• Mortgage Deal May Give States Sweeping Power
  A proposed settlement to resolve mortgage abuses by top U.S. banks will give states broad authority to punish firms that mistreat borrowers in the future, according to documents seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Under the settlement, which states are currently reviewing to...
• BofA Tumbles to 5.6% Share of Mortgages
  Bank of America Corp. lost about three-quarters of its market share in U.S. home mortgages since 2007 as the firm grappled with defective loans, while Wells Fargo Co. s presence almost doubled, FBR Capital Markets said.Bank of America saw its share of originations drop to...
• Obama Unveils $10 Billion Home Refi Plan
  President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on Congress to approve a $5 billion to $10 billion effort to help U.S. homeowners refinance as part of a wider package of proposals to shore up the depressed housing market. Obama had sketched out the proposals in his State of the...
• Former Trader Pleads Guilty in Subprime Probe
  A former London-based Credit Suisse trader pleaded guilty to a criminal conspiracy charge on Wednesday, and he is cooperating with a U.S. government investigation on writedowns of subprime mortgage derivatives at the height of the financial crisis. David Higgs told a...
• Facebook Picks Morgan Stanley to Lead IPO
  Facebook Inc., the world s largest social-networking service, chose Morgan Stanley to take the lead on its planned initial public offering, four people with knowledge of the matter said. Facebook will file plans with regulators today to raise $5 billion, though the amount...
• Obama to Unveil Mortgage Refinancing Plan
  President Barack Obama will announce a package of proposals to jolt the housing market out of its doldrums, including an effort to help more borrowers take advantage of historically low mortgage interest rates, an administration official said today.Obama will ask Congress...
• Feds to Bring Subprime Mortgage Fraud Charges
  U.S. authorities are preparing to charge four former Credit Suisse Group AG employees with criminal and civil fraud related to write-downs on subprime mortgage derivatives at the height of the financial crisis, sources familiar with the matter said. Credit Suisse will not...
• MF Global's Missing Money Said Traced to Banks
  U.S. investigating authorities have traced more than 90 percent of the customer money which disappeared from MF Global around the time of its bankruptcy, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the investigation. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the...
• IFR: Facebook Set to File $5 Billion IPO
  Facebook is expected to submit paperwork to regulators on Wednesday morning for a $5 billion initial public offering and has selected Morgan Stanley and four other bookrunners to handle the mega-IPO, sources close to the deal told IFR. The company founded by Mark...
• EU Blocks $10 Billion NYSE-German Merger
  The European Union on Wednesday blocked the Deutsche Boerse's planned merger with NYSE Euronext, a $10 billion deal that would have created the world's largest financial exchange operator.The European Commission, the EU's executive body, said it was ruling against the...
• California Controller Predicts Cash Crunch by March
  California s cash may be exhausted by March as tax collections trail budgeted amounts, Controller John Chiang said in a letter to lawmakers. The nation s most-populous state needs $3.3 billion for March and the first two weeks of April, Chiang said in the letter to...

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