BankThink

Irene Dorner, chief executive of HSBC USA, agrees with the frustrations of many bankers that regulators are taking too long to write the rules designed to prevent the next financial crisis.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...JPMorgan's Settlement Tab Keeps Rising: As more leaks drip out from the JPMorgan Chase settlement talks rumor mill, JPM's price tag keeps rising. JPM had been thought to be readying to pay $1 billion, but the Wall Street Journal reports JPM has offered "about $3 billion" though DOJ officials deem that figure as "billions of dollars too low" and that the final amount "could be larger." The New York Times says JPM will pay between $3 billion and $7 billion; the Washington Post says JPM could pay "in excess of $3 billion"; and the Financial Times hedges, saying in its lead paragraph JPM will pay "over $4 billion," but later in the story reporting that authorities are demanding at least $10 billion just for JPM's mortgage sins. The reports don't clarify which of the litany of JPM probes would be put to bed and whether some civil or criminal cases may remain pending after the settlement. The reports identify multiple federal and state agencies as being involved, including New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The talks may settle the probes into energy markets manipulation and the sale of faulty mortgage-backed securities. In a blatant example of stating the obvious, the Post reports that JPM is "eager to put the investigations to rest," citing an unnamed source. California investigators had planned to announce on Tuesday new civil charges against JPM, but the DOJ told Golden State officials to hold tight, the FT and Post reported. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post

PayPal’s reported plans to acquire Braintree would give it more than just a payment processor that moves $10 billion a year. If this marriage takes place, it would signal a shift in how payments companies think about technology.

According to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, banks can expect changes to federal reporting requirements for mortgage data.

The GAO should focus on the gross benefit of being "too big to fail", not the benefit net of fines, penalties and regulatory burdens.

Perhaps not surprisingly, a federal government that lives beyond its means tragically encouraged American families to do the same.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Bigger Battles Ahead: The Times and the FT warn that JPMorgan Chase, which agreed last week to pay $1 billion to settle a range of government inquiries and investigations, may still have bigger battles ahead of it, including a potential lawsuit in California, where federal prosecutors are looking into details of mortgage securities sales conducted in the run-up to the financial crisis. The case is expected to come as soon as today, according to the NYT. Efforts to reach a settlement have failed, the FT reports, citing a source familiar with the matter. New York Times, Financial Times

To succeed today, financial firms need to encourage female employees to take the right kind of risks, such as trying new innovations to serve clients.

Despite Basel III's shortcomings, I have yet to hear of a better solution than combining risk-weighted assets with a strong leverage ratio. Both require uniform guidelines for banks and disclosure.

There’s no question that that banking industry owes a solid to government policymakers for bailing them out of the crisis. What’s still much in dispute is whether the Dodd-Frank Act and the various other salves that have been applied to stave off another calamity will work as intended.