BNY hires Scharf as CEO; OCC-CFPB tiff escalates

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Earnings: Bank of America beat analyst expectations on both earnings and revenue as its second-quarter profit rose 10% to $5.27 billion. Goldman Sachs soundly beat earnings expectations, although revenue fell.

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Back in the New York groove: Bank of New York Mellon hired former Visa CEO Charles W. Scharf to be its CEO, effective immediately. He replaces Gerald Hassell, who will remain chairman until December 31, at which time Scharf will add that title. Scharf left Visa last December after four years to be closer to his family in New York. Earlier,Scharf ran JPMorgan Chase’s retail banking division for seven years and was considered a potential successor to JPM CEO Jamie Dimon.

“Mr. Scharf’s challenge will be to jump-start growth and navigate the technological changes sweeping through the financial-services industry,” the Wall Street Journal says. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, American Banker

FX settlement: BNP Paribas agreed to pay $246 million to the Federal Reserve to resolve allegations of misconduct in its foreign exchange business. The Fed said traders at the French bank conspired with their colleagues at competing firms through electronic chat rooms to manipulate currency prices and benchmark rates. In May, the bank agreed to a $350 million settlement with New York’s state banking regulator to settle similar charges. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times here and here

Wall Street Journal
Hold on: Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika asked Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray to postpone implementation of the CFPB’s rule that prohibits banks from requiring customers to submit to arbitration rather than file lawsuits when they have a grievance. Noreika, who earlier said the rule could hurt the banking industry, wants his office to further study the rule to ensure it doesn’t put banks in financial risk. A CFPB spokesman said the bureau is reviewing the letter.

Robo, no go: Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become trendy buzzwords in robo investing. “But for all the hype, applying AI to investment has three serious problems,” the paper says. “It works too well, it is often impossible to understand, and it only knows about recent history. Worse, it will be self-defeating if it proves popular, as algorithms face off against each other in the market.”

Jamie for president?: Editors Mary Kissel and Paul Gigot assess the Trump administration's economic policies and the prospects of a Jamie Dimon presidency in this video.

Financial Times
PayPal pact: PayPal has reached a deal to issue Visa-branded debit cards in Europe. The deal “opens up a broader customer base as [PayPal] shifts towards retail banking,” the paper comments.

New York Times
Can you prove it?: Thousands of people who defaulted on private student loans may see their debt wiped out because the presumptive owner of the loans is having difficulty proving in court that it actually owns the loans. According to the paper, the loans, which total at least $5 billion, were originally made by banks but then sold to investors, who took the borrowers to court after they defaulted on the loans.

“At the center of the storm is one of the nation’s largest owners of private student loans, the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts,” the paper says. “Judges have already dismissed dozens of lawsuits against former students, essentially wiping out their debt, because documents proving who owns the loans are missing. Many other collection cases are deeply flawed, with incomplete ownership records and mass-produced documentation.”

Quotable
“The OCC should be granted the opportunity to conduct an independent review of the CFPB data to determine the safety and soundness implications of the Final Rule.” — Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika in a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray.