Bankers Warned at New York Fed; Watt's Mortgage Plan

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Bankers Warned: Big banks, be warned (again). In closed-door meetings Monday, Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo and New York Fed President William Dudley said big banks must clean up their acts, or face repercussions. Those consequences could include things like "performance bonds," limits on executive compensation and a central registry to track the hiring and firing of traders and other top finance officials, all of which were reported by the Wall Street Journal (in two stories), New York Times, Financial Times and American Banker. The meeting's participants (it was invitation-only) included bankers, such as JPMorgan Chase General Counsel Stephen Cutler, law enforcement officials, such as Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, and, of course, regulators. In spite of the harsh warning Dudley and Tarullo delivered, the Journal described the event's tone as "collegial, probably a little too collegial," citing an unnamed attendee. The paper also noted that those in attendance dined on chicken and salmon for lunch.

Mortgage Pact: The announcement by FHFA director Mel Watt of a plan to limit lender liability on buybacks of loans (and thus make mortgage credit more freely available) received coverage from the WSJ and the Times, not to mention American Banker. Watt's announcement was described by Mortgage Bankers Association President David Stevens as "extremely positive." But, a "Heard on the Street" column doubts Watt's plan will work.

Peer-to-Peer: A battalion of traditional bankers has formed a company to join forces with peer-to-peer lenders. Veterans from Citigroup, Visa, Capital One, PayPal and former Citi CEO Vikram Pandit are among those backing Orchard Platform, a startup that wants to connect institutional investors with P2P lenders like Prosper and Lending Club. The FT has a story noting the European banks that have taken a liking to P2P lenders, including Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Wall Street Journal

Staples appears to be the latest big retailer to be victimized by a cyberattack. The office-products retailer confirmed to blogger Brian Krebs that it's investigating the possible breach, but gave no other details.

Financial Times

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision will start work on the calibration of the leverage ratio next year, sooner than previously expected. The finished rule could be unveiled as soon as 2015 or 2016, ahead of the previous target date of 2017.

New York Times

The paper takes a look at Apple Pay on the day it arrives, going over many of the same points and ideas as dozens of other stories in recent weeks. The Times' story quotes the president of a point-of-sale start-up company saying Apple has good timing with Apple Pay because retailers are already having to invest "in new E.M.V.-[Europay, MasterCard and Visa] enabled machines. N.F.C. [Near Field Communication] is just a few bucks more."

Washington Post

The FBI's Cyber Division has ruled out Russia as the source of the cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase, saying there was no evidence of Russian payback for western economic sanctions.

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