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HSBC buyback: HSBC said it plans to buy back $2.5 billion of its stock despite a 40% drop in net income in the second quarter. The recently announced sale of its Brazilian until will help pay for the buyback.
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European bank equity rout continues: European bank stocks extended their poor 2016 performance into August, losing nearly 5% yesterday on top of Monday's almost 3% drop. The Euro Stoxx Banks Index is down nearly 35% this year.
"A loss of confidence in the ability of European banks to increase earnings against a backdrop of negative interest rates and a tepid economy has ravaged share prices … and dented a European equity market that investors had held high hopes for in 2016," the
Separately, the
Both banks have lost almost half their value this year, compared with about a 9% decline for the full index. Companies are removed from the index if their market cap falls below 75th place on a list of the region's largest listed companies for two months in a row.
Wall Street Journal
What's the best way to pay? If you said a chip card,
Finer details: Federal regulators are asking big banks to
So far communications between the SEC and the banks have been informal and preliminary, but the agency could soon send comment letters to the biggest trading firms in the coming months.
Student loan crisis grows: The number of borrowers in long-term default of their student loans
Borrowers who haven't made a payment in at least a year constitute about 16% of the roughly 43 million Americans with student debt and $125 billion of the $1.3 trillion loans outstanding.
Despite rumors that Washington is considering debt forgiveness as an election ploy, it's instead playing hardball: The government garnished $515 million in borrowers' wages in the nine months through March, according to government figures.
New York Times
Who's afraid of the big, bad bank? Large commercial banks are trying new ways to convince consumers they're
Citigroup, for example, the sole banking sponsor of the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, is tying its sponsorship to its role in fueling the global economy. It plans to run an ad highlighting its roles in rebuilding Europe after World War II and the construction of the Panama Canal.