Receiving Wide Coverage ...
Stress Tested: The results of the Federal Reserve's stress tests are here and, wouldn't you know, 29 of the 30 largest financial firms could weather a big economic downturn a sign, the Journal says, "that many will get the green light soon to reward investors by raising dividends and buying back shares." (Hey, look, here's what Discover is asking for.) The one outlier here was Zions Bancorp, which would have fallen short of the minimum 5% capital ratio in the two-year downturn scenario. But the FT points out that Bank of America may find itself in the spotlight after the big test, too, given the bank "had the lowest tier one common capital ratio of all the big U.S. banks" and "its ratio worsened from the previous year's results that excluded certain variables." All-in-all, however, Dealbook declared the results "showed a banking system that has substantially healed since the 2008 financial crisis," though American Banker points out, year-over-year individual results were more of a mixed bag. Next week the Fed will announce whether it has approved or rejected banks' plans to return capital to shareholders. Notes the FT's Lex column: "Trying to wager who may receive a humiliating veto is tricky. The Fed also factors in 'qualitative' measures, such as the quality of the banks' own projections and planning process. Banks may not like effectively outsourcing an important corporate decision to Uncle Sam. But that is the price of taking taxpayers' funds."
Fined: The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority has fined Mark Stevenson, a former Credit Suisse trader, about $1.1 million amid allegations he manipulated the government-bond market during its central bank's quantitative easing program. The FCA has also barred Stevenson from the industry. The Journal notes this is "the first time [the FCA] has imposed a penalty for manipulation in U.K. government-bond markets." New York Times, Financial Times
Wall Street Journal
This story may sound familiar: "From helping with the purchase of a plane to organizing college tours for childrenand even finding assisted-living facilities for sick relatives or evacuating them from foreign localessome banks are drastically expanding the menu of 'concierge' services they offer to prized customers."
Beleaguered Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has found 200,000 or about $120 million worth of lost bitcoins. They were hanging out in a wallet the exchange no longer uses. That leaves 650,000 bitcoins left to find.
Financial Times
"London Whale" supervisor Javier Martin-Artajo is challenging the FCA's finding against JPMorgan Chase regarding that pesky $6 billion trading loss back in 2012. Anonymice tell the paper the former JPM employee "will claim that the regulator made him too identifiable in its anonymised findings." Martin-Artajo was criminally charged with wrongdoing related to the incident by U.S. prosecutors back in August. He is currently fighting extradition in Spain.
New York Times
The door is always, it seems, revolving: Myron Marlin, a former top aide at the Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined prominent consulting firm FTI Consulting.
