Jeanine Skowronski

The JPMorgan Chase chief’s recent raise is sure to reignite debate over executive compensation and how bank CEOs should be judged.

JPM Board: 'Fire Jamie? Nah, Let's Give Him a Raise!'

Wells Sells Servicing Rights; Getting Tough on Foreign Banks

Target Data Breach Details Emerge; Another Goldman Tell-All on the Way

We’re asking customers from different demographics to describe what they are looking for from their financial services providers.

The Evolving Mortgage Market; Sandy Weill's New Job; More Big Bank Fines Looming?

Fed's 2014 Agenda; StanChart Restructures; Bad News for Bitcoin?

Parsing JPM's Madoff Settlement; Volcker Rule Loophole?

Senate Confirms Yellen as Fed Chair; More Co-op Bank Probes

Receiving Wide Coverage ...JPM Madoff Settlement: New year; same story for JPMorgan Chase. Anonymice are telling their favorite news outlets the big bank is close to nearing another settlement with federal regulators. This one involves allegations that JPM ignored signs about Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme. The settlement is expected to include just over $2 billion in fines, paid out to victims of the Madoff fraud, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. It will also include a deferred prosecution agreement with Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. "The agreement, nearly unheard-of for a giant American bank and typically employed only when misconduct is extreme, underscores the magnitude of the case against JPMorgan," notes Dealbook. The Journal says JPM is trying to get the settlement finalized before it reports earnings on January 14.

Can the banking industry at least cool it with the footnotes?

Regulators and advocacy groups have been steadily pushing traditional financial firms to bring low-income consumers into the banking system or do more to keep them there. But are banks the best option for everyone?

Banks need startups to test the waters with new products and services, but startups need banks for their capital, infrastructure, large customer bases, established regulatory relationships and compliance training.

Emerging payments developers shouldn't feel forced to place all their bets on one platform or another. In the shorter term, successful future models of banking will be hybrids.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...JPM Lawsuits, Etc.: JPMorgan Chase sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday for over $1 billion, alleging that the regulator did not honor its obligation to cover legal claims against Washington Mutual. JPM, of course, acquired WaMu in a hastily drawn-up deal at the height of the financial crisis. (We're saying "hastily drawn-up" here, since the agreement apparently lacks specifics over who exactly is liable for what.) JPM is not seeking restitution for the landmark $13 billion mortgage settlement it reached with the Justice Department in November, because, you know, as part of that settlement, it agreed not to. The bank is, however, looking for the FDIC receivership to cover damages from "24 suits brought by a variety of investors, for which it said it should not have to take responsibility," reports the FT. The bank includes settlements paid out to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over bad loans they purchased from WaMu. Spokespersons from both sides are declining to comment. The Journal notes that JPM's "confrontation with one regulator comes as the bank faces a host of other legal headaches and investigations into everything from its overseas hiring practices to its trading operations." In fact, just yesterday, the bank was sued by Mississippi's attorney general over its credit card debt collection practices. And, in case you haven't had your fill of JPM news this morning, a new report, per the Journal, has found JPM "is the least likely among 15 big U.S. commercial banks to return large amounts of excess capital to shareholders over the next three years."

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Downsizing After Volcker: In what the Journal pegs as an "unforeseen consequence" of the recently released Volcker Rule, more than a dozen small and regional banks will likely need to sell collateralized debt obligations. Case in point: Zions Bancorp, which said it would take a $387 million charge to get rid of a large CDO portfolio, as a result of the Volcker Rule's treatment of CDOs comprised of trust preferred securities. "The unexpected announcement by Zions … is an indication that the impact of the Volcker Rule will not just be felt at traditional Wall Street firms but at other kinds of banks as well," echoes Dealbook. JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, is selling an Asia-based principal investment business, valued at more than $1 billion. Potential buyers include Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR. According to the FT, "while the operation … does not directly fall foul of the new Volcker rule restricting proprietary investments, bankers at JPMorgan say it is only a matter of time before regulators may decide it is a risk-taking business." The FT also reports that Citigroup and Santander have sold $1 billion of trade finance assets in a securitization, though that sale is attributed primarily to new Basel capital rules, which "hurt the profitability of assets that banks would have typically held."

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Waiting for Volcker: News on the contents of the Volcker Rule continues to trickle in ahead of next week's vote on the long-awaited Dodd-Frank provision. The Journal reports that the rule will require bank executives to guarantee their firms are in compliance with the regulation, which, incidentally, marks another requirement banks lobbied against that wound up in regulators' final proposal. Meanwhile, an unnamed senior Treasury official tells the FT the rule will "be quite short, leaving room for regulators' discretion."

Receiving Wide Coverage ...On the Regulatory Horizon: An anonymouse tells the Journal that the forthcoming Volcker Rule won't allow banks to use "portfolio hedging," thanks to JPMorgan Chase's whole "London Whale" debacle. "Regulators, in response to [JPM's disclosure its trades were a hedge], pushed to write a rule that would ensure banks couldn't engage in such trades," the paper reports. "The move will come as a blow to banks, which lobbied regulators to keep language allowing portfolio hedging in the rule." But finishing Volcker does not necessarily mean finishing Dodd-Frank. Dealbook reports that U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is set to give a speech Thursday that champions the financial reform act, but leaves open the possibility of adding more measures to end too big to fail in the future. "Lew is pushing for new measures to reduce the risks posed by money-market mutual funds," the article notes. "In addition, he argues that vulnerabilities still exist in the short-term debt markets that Wall Street firms tap heavily." Meanwhile, three Wall Street trade groups — the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and the Institute of International Bankers — are suing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly wrongfully issuing new directions for swaps as guidance rather than a formal rule. "At its heart, the challenge reflects a broad worry among industry activists and conservative lawmakers in Washington that the trading commission … has gone too far," Dealbook notes, while the Journal reports: "SIFMA and ISDA sued the CFTC before, in December 2011, which resulted in the CFTC revising a rule aimed at curtailing bets in commodities markets."

Breaking News This Morning ...Fined: European Union regulators have fined eight financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, for colluding in attempts to manipulate key global benchmark interest rates. Penalties total $2.32 billion. Future penalties are possible. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Settled: Bank of America has agreed to pay $404 million to Freddie Mac to settle disputes over residential mortgage loans sold to Freddie between 2000 and 2009. Some good news for the bank? "The deal should largely shield Bank of America from any further 'put-backs' of crisis-era loans sold" to both government-sponsored enterprises, notes the Journal. B of A already agreed to a $1.28 billion repurchase settlement with Freddie back in 2011. (That settlement, however, covered loans sold by Countrywide.) It also already settled twice with Fannie Mae. The bank plans to use existing reserves to cover the latest payout. Freddie previously struck similar deals with Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and SunTrust Bank.