New York Times
The Export-Import Bank reopened on Monday, but things aren't going to be like the good old days any time soon. The Ex-Im Bank lacks a quorum, as three of its five seats are vacant. Even if President Obama nominated members, the Ex-Im Bank's Tea Party-backed Republican enemies in Congress almost certainly wouldn't confirm them. That's going to leave the Ex-Im Bank handling paltry export deals, not the giant loans for aircraft and satellites for which it's known.
Emerging markets have become nearly powerless to cope with the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, namely Ben Bernanke's long period of near-zero interest rates and bond buying, according to London economics professor Hélène Rey. Her theory is starting to take hold, with more economists accepting her view as correct. In effect, the Fed's policies create volatile capital flows, which are harmful for the countries that absorb them. "Financial firms, often using borrowed money, swoop into Malaysian, Brazilian and Turkish markets when rates in the United States are low and swoop out when rates rise — frequently leaving wreckage in their wake," the Times said, describing Rey's theory.
Wall Street Journal
The former Secret Service agent who was pleaded guilty to charges related to stealing thousands of bitcoin during an investigation into the Silk Road site was sentenced to about six years in prison. Shaun W. Bridges will also pay $1.1 million in fines. Bridges had been a member of the Secret Service's electronic crimes task force; he sold the stolen bitcoin for about $820,000. In October, former DEA agent Carl Mark Force IV was sentenced to about six years for stealing about $776,000 of bitcoin while investigating Silk Road.
Financial Times
Credit Suisse may soon be hit with a Securities and Exchange lawsuit, accusing it of illegally inflating the amount of assets under management in its private bank. Credit Suisse has worked out an arrangement with Wells Fargo, to allow the San Francisco company to recruit brokers from its private bank.
Washington Post
RushCard is taking some extreme steps to make up for the outage that left more than 442,000 users of its prepaid cards without access to funds in October. In addition to creating a fund to compensate customers, and implementing a no-fine period of usage, RushCard is hand-delivering cash to some customers.
Elsewhere ...
Fox News: Online lender WebBank deposited $28,500 into the account of Syed Farook, one of the two San Bernardino, Calif., shooters, about two weeks before the massacre. Investigators are looking into whether the money was a loan taken out by Farook. Later, Farook converted $10,000 of the funds to cash and withdrew the money at a MUFG Union Bank branch in San Bernardino. Farook later made at least three transfers of $5,000 to a person that appears to be his mother, according to the report. A spokesperson for the $279 million-asset WebBank, in Salt Lake City, declined to comment to Fox.
Consumerist: A Washington state man this year was sent dozens of letters from Equifax, saying he was responsible for a long list of debts, including student loans, mortgages and cars loans. None of the debt belonged to him. The letters were sent after the man attempted to dispute some items on his credit report. Equifax later admitted its mistake and said it was due to a technical error. Unfortunately for the man, he still hasn't received his real credit report from Equifax, even after requesting it. The man intends to sue Equifax for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
