Receiving Wide Coverage ...
Mixed bag: Bank of America's second-quarter results are better than analysts predicted, but still spell a big drop from last year. The bank's profit fell to $4.23 billion from $5.13 billion a year earlier, while adjusted revenue slid to $20.6 billion from $21.96 billion, B of A reported on Monday morning. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times>, American banker
Banks have found a bright spot in the trading of bonds, commodities and currencies this quarter, the Journal notes. JPMorgan reported a 35% jump in trading revenue last week and B of A has followed suit: trading revenue rose 12% to $3.7 billion from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, experts try to make sense of the results from Wells Fargo and Citigroup on Friday – both met or exceeded analyst projections. "Wells Fargo remains the better-run bank, with superior returns on equity. But at Citigroup, things are headed in the right direction," according to the Journal. That means that Citi's shares could "offer more potential upside" if current trends continue.
Wall Street Journal
Bubble trouble: Countries including Canada, Sweden and Australia are beginning to worry about housing bubbles again thanks to low interest rates. Unfortunately, their central bankers "feel powerless to stop them."
Too old to fail? Believe it or not, there's a fresh battle emerging in the European Union – this time with Italy, over whether the Europeans should bail out a troubled bank. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, has amassed $55.5 billion in soured loans and is likely to perform poorly on European stress tests when results are released later this month. "A public intervention cannot be ruled out," Bank of Italy Gov. Ignazio Visco said Friday.
Financial Times
Existential crisis: Given the challenges facing marketplace lenders, startups like Lending Club "need to rethink how they do business," the paper says. That could include keeping more loans on the books, becoming a bank, or getting acquired.
New York Times
Too big to jail?: Gretchen Morgenson reviews a report by the House Financial Services Committee, released earlier this month, that raises questions about whether the Justice Department missed an opportunity to prosecute HSBC for sanctions and anti-money laundering violations years ago. Prosecutors instead settled with the bank in 2012, possibly over concerns that the specter of criminal violations would damage the economy.
