Credit Suisse Can't Win; MasterCard Courts PayPal

Breaking News This Morning ...

Earnings: UBS reported profits fell 14%, but it still beat Street expectations. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Nobody's impressed: Credit Suisse posted surprisingly respectable earnings on Thursday, with a profit of about $171 million. Still, the troubled bank knows there's more work to do. "It's only a start," said Tidjane Thiam, the company's chief executive. Investors were unmoved – shares of the bank's stock fell 5%. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times

Everybody make nice: MasterCard may be looking to capitalize on the goodwill generated by a deal earlier this month between Visa and PayPal. MasterCard chief executive Ajaypal Singh Banga said Thursday his company has been in a "constructive dialogue" with PayPal after years of competitive tensions. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times

Gloomy forecast: London-based Lloyd's Banking Group is set to slash 3,000 jobs and close 200 branches. Thanks for nothing, Brexit. New York Times, Financial Times

Stressed out: European stress test results are due Friday and the papers have previews. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times

Wall Street Journal

Regulatory Capture: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is planning to pull examiners out of offices inside the biggest banks, responding to concerns that regulators are too close to the businesses they're supposed to be monitoring. Nearly 250 on-site examiners will be relocated to lower Manhattan.

Prices hit a ditch: Four of the biggest auto lenders said in recent earnings reports that used-car values are falling, which can spell trouble for the market. "When borrowers default on car loans, lenders repossess the vehicle and resell it with the goal of recovering as much of the outstanding loan balance as possible," the paper says. "When used-car prices fall, the amount of the unpaid balance lenders can recoup is also at risk of declining. That could result in lenders writing off a larger dollar amount of defaulted balances."

Elsewhere ...

Blockchains: If you weren't at American Banker's Blockchains + Digital Currencies conference Thursday, you missed a good time. But you can experience it vicariously through our cousins at the New York Observer, who covered the fireside chat with Bill Barhydt, founder of the global mobile-remittance startup Abra, and a discussion of how bitcoin micropayments might save the web from obnoxious ads. We'll have more content from the event soon on American Banker's podcast; stay tuned.

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