Without meaningful transparency on banks’ financial reports, regulatory capital ratios and living wills, anyone writing about bank earnings is a willing actor in banks’ quarterly earnings Kabuki theater.

Under its aggressive quantitative easing program, the Fed is borrowing short-term and investing long-term, exposing itself to severe interest rate risk when short-term rates rise, writes former Fed economist Scott Hein.

Editor's Note: Morning Scan will not publish on Friday, April 18 in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Receiving Wide Coverage ... Big Investment Bank Earnings: Morgan Stanley's profits rose 18% year-over-year, thanks to a strong performance by its fixed-income division. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs reported a drop in first-quarter profits, in part due to its fixed-income division. Goldman did, however, beat analyst expectations. …

Smaller bank holding companies are faced with a potentially significant problem if their risk controls are judged insufficient for the current regulatory environment.

U.S. banks today are safer, sounder, more secure, transparent, accountable and are performing their critical roles in the global economy.

Breaking News This Morning ...

B of A Earnings, Etc.: Bank of America reported a $276 million loss compared with a $1.48 billion profit a year earlier, largely due to legal expenses. (In case you may have missed it, Bank of America has been on a bit of settlement tear of late. And, the Journal notes this morning that the bank has settled mortgage-backed securities claims with the monoline insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., which is…

The goal is to meet the financial education needs of everyone in the community — whether it’s the tech-savvy second-grader, the recent high school graduate getting her first checking account or a retiree learning how to stick to a fixed income.

The proposed Small Lender Mutual cooperative would be expensive for small firms to capitalize, and its securities may get inferior pricing compared to those issued by large banks and nonbanks.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Second Look at Citi: Don't be fooled by Citi's earnings. General consensus among news outlets is that profits may have bested expectations, but relief — more than accolades — is in order. "After two preceding quarters, in which Citi failed to meet already lowered expectations, a revelation of fraud in Mexico and a rejection of Citi's capital-return request by the Federal Reserve, discovering the ball hadn't been yanked away this time was…

As the U.S. and Europe impose sanctions against Russia, western banks are keeping closer tabs on their business dealings in the country. JPMorgan Chase's temporary hold on a Russian Embassy payment and the disruption of VISA services for SMP Bank could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Bankers are kidding themselves if they think bank-like supervision will ultimately catch up with nonbanks. Expect to compete on the current playing field, however uneven it may be.

Breaking News This Morning ... Citi Earnings: Citigroup reported a 4% rise in quarterly profits year-over-year, besting analyst estimates. Similarly to Wells Fargo, however (see below), revenue at Citi fell slightly year-over-year. Wall Street Journal, New York Times Receiving Wide Coverage ... Wells, JPM Earnings, Take Two: A few news outlets are out with second takes on Friday morning's bank earnings. (Quick recap: Wells was up; JPMorgan Chase was down.) "Wells Fargo's ascension punctuates the industry upheaval that…

Overdraft fees can wreak havoc on household finances, but innovations like B of A's SafeBalance account are a big step in the right direction, consumer advocates say.

Breaking News This Morning ...

1Q Earnings: JPMorgan sharply down (NYT, WSJ), Wells Fargo sharply up (NYT, WSJ). Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fake Bankers?: Bankers were told by regulators on Thursday to upgrade systems in use to protect customer information. The warning involves the Heartbleed security flaw and came from a group of regulators acting as the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, the Times reports. Members include the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of…

Regulators look at eight risk categories when determining a bank's health, but it's how banks deal with three in particular — interest rate risk, liquidity risk and IT/operational risk -- that could make or break them.