New team: HSBC Holdings named AIA Group head Mark Tucker as its next chairman, the first time the bank has filled that role from the outside in its 152-year history. Tucker, who will join the bank in the fall, will succeed outgoing chairman Douglas Flint. One of Tucker's first orders of business will be to find a replacement for CEO Stuart Gulliver, who is expected to leave the bank next year. Tucker's appointment "is the first step in refreshing the bank's leadership and setting out its next set of goals," the Wall Street Journal said. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times
Mark Tucker, chairman and chief executive officer of AIA Group Ltd., listens at the Singapore Summit 2016 in Singapore, on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. The summit runs through Sept. 17. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
Rejected: The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday rejected an application by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss to create an exchange-traded fund tied to the price of bitcoin. The agency said it turned down the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust because the markets where bitcoin is currently traded are unregulated, which raised "concerns about the potential for fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices in this market." Bitcoin prices immediately dropped on the news before subsequently recovering.
Score boosters: The Big Three credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — have agreed to start removing tax liens and civil judgments from consumers' credit reports. The move, which is expected to start around July 1, "could help boost credit scores for millions of consumers, but could pose risks for lenders," the paper reported. The action follows "regulatory pressure," which the paper says "has intensified in recent years around credit reports and the outsize role they typically play in lending decisions."
Penalty: The Federal Reserve wants to fine two former JPMorgan Chase bankers and permanently ban them from working in the industry for allegedly offering internships and other jobs at the bank in Asia to children of high-ranking officials in exchange for business. The bankers in question, Fang Fang, the former head of JPMorgan's China investment bank, and Timothy Fletcher, who ran the JPMorgan hiring program and led the firm's junior resources management group in Asia, face fines of $1 million and $500,000, respectively. The bank has already paid $264 million in fines over the alleged bribery.
Financial Times
Wells redux?: TD Bank Group is on the defensive in its native land after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired two reports accusing the bank "of a catalogue of Wells Fargo-like sales abuses," according to the paper. The TV network said TD employees in Canada "increased customers' lines of credit, overdraft protection amounts and credit card borrowing limits — all without authorization — in order to reach sales targets," the paper said. "A follow-up report claimed 'hundreds' of current and former employees had got in touch with the broadcaster, describing a 'pressure cooker' sales environment that encouraged them to break rules to keep their jobs." The bank's stock price fell more than 5% on Friday, its biggest one-day loss in more than eight years.
New York Times
Housing decision: The Trump administration may soon be forced to disclose what it proposes to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to financial columnist Gretchen Morgenson. The subject "is nowhere near the top" of the White House's to-do list and has said little about it, she acknowledges. "But we will know a lot more in the coming weeks as circumstances compel Trump officials to show their hand. In essence, their action or inaction on two important matters will demonstrate whether they intend to follow the Obama administration's approach to the companies — which was to keep them in federal conservatorship and drain them of capital — or take a different path, perhaps toward privatization."
A proposal issued last week by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. could lead banks to limit grants they give to nonprofits in exchange for Community Reinvestment Act credit.
From showing up authentically to understanding oxytocin, a session at this week's CAAFP held by The American College of Financial Services called into question some traditional industry approaches to planning.
A report released this week by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., shines a light on what is required of banks when high-net-worth clients engage in suspicious activity.
The latest consumer conditions study from the American Financial Services Association paints a less-than-rosy picture of how lenders expect the second half of the year to play out.
The American College of Financial Services is launching a certification program to train financial professionals on the ins and outs of donor-advised funds.
The neobank in the second quarter blew past Wall Street's expectations and posted its second quarter of GAAP profitability as its payments-centric business model continues to resonate with consumers and challenge incumbent banks.
