Banking Conspicuously Absent from State of the Union Address

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

State of the Union Address: Obama urged passage of a mortgage refinancing bill, but otherwise made no mention of banking or financial services, to the relief of some industry executives. In the Republican rebuttal, Marco Rubio alluded to the role of "reckless government policies" in the housing crisis and called for improved disclosures to student loan borrowers. Incidentally, why all the fuss about taking a swig of water? He was giving a speech, not acting in a play. A more interesting digression: if you're wondering what this 3-D printing thing Obama mentioned is all about, here's a good primer. General SOTU coverage in Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post

More on Jack Lew: The Post recommends five questions to ask the Treasury Secretary nominee during today's confirmation hearing. A Journal editorial pounces on the revelation that when he worked at Citi Lew invested in a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven that the Democrats often bash.

Discredited Reports: An FTC study showed widespread errors in consumer credit reports, prompting calls for tighter regulation of the credit bureaus by the Times editorial page and Post columnist Michelle Singletary.

New York Times

"Big Banks Are Told to Review Their Own Foreclosures" — Now that the independent consultants' reviews have been dispensed with, the banks themselves are checking their work to determine payments to wronged borrowers under last month's $3.6 billion settlement, the paper reports, citing anonymous sources.

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