Receiving Wide Coverage ...
State of Banking, Continued: The regulatory push for banks to take fewer risks in mortgage lending has also meant that banks are
But wait, banks are also legally required to serve a racially diverse group of customers. "It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations," said Stu Feldstein of the mortgage-research firm SMR Research.
The 10 largest banks increased their share of jumbo mortgages between 2007 and 2014. Bank of America increased its jumbo lending to 15.6% of all approved mortgages in 2014, from 8% in 2007. Jumbos carry higher loan balances, are made to borrowers with high credit scores, and require large downpayments. They also carry lower default rates.
Meanwhile, those banks issued fewer mortgages to minority applicants. Curiously, some federal agencies with oversight of fair lending practices say there is not necessarily a conflict at play here. However, prosecutors are working up lawsuits to be filed against banks for violating fair lending laws. Prosecutors accused Hudson City Bancorp of redlining last year and the bank agreed to pay $33 million without admitting wrongdoing.
The WSJ series also
Of course, plenty of banks already are acting like PayPal, as the WSJ notes, including JPMorgan Chase, BBVA Compass and SunTrust. Since PayPal does many of the same things as banks, regulators are starting to look at whether it needs to conduct some oversight of PayPal and its ilk.
Finally, the WSJ observes that many
Wall Street Journal
Payday lenders, auto-title lenders and other purveyors of installment loans will face
Notably, the CFPB's regulatory plan will not allow banks to compete with payday lenders by offering their own version of small-dollar loans, according to American Banker's
The Treasury Department has taken steps to ban non-U.S. banks from processing
"North Korea has been probably the largest state sponsor of criminal activity and money laundering in the world," said a former State Department official in the George W. Bush administration.
A Congressional panel wants more information about what happened in the
Read American Banker's coverage of how banks have monitored their usage of Swift
Stress-test results will be delivered soon, and some banks
The robo-adviser Wealthfront has partnered with the state of Nevada to introduce a
New York Times
"I'm cracking cards 'cause I'm a scammer. Watch the money do a back flip, early morning up at Saks Fifth, you see it, you want it, you have it." Those are lyrics from the song "For a Scammer" by Brooklyn rap group Pop Out Boyz. They're based on group members' alleged real-life experience running a credit card fraud ring; members of Pop Out Boyz were
The rise of dark websites has made it easier to obtain fraudulent credit cards, according to the New York Police Department's financial crimes force. The sites sell card numbers taken from data breaches at retailers. "You don't need to be a criminal mastermind to pull this off; it's not that hard to get the numbers," said Gary Shiffman, an economist who specializes in illicit online markets.
Prosecutors say Pop Out Boyz members bought luxury shoes, jeans and handbags from places like Barneys and, of course, Saks. They stole about $258,000 worth of goods over 55 days.