Receiving Wide Coverage ...
Hacked Off: More details about the JPMorgan Chase cyberattack were leaked, although it's somewhat alarming how many unanswered questions remain. Anonymice told the Journal hackers tried to breach the data systems of other banks or financial institutions but were unsuccessful. It's unclear what, exactly, the hackers were trying to do. Bill Nelson of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, said, "It is like the equivalent of a robber walking around your house and looking for an open window and they walk away." The FT's Martin Arnold offers an analysis of the cyberattack situation.
Rate Rigging: Deutsche Bank is in talks with U.S. and U.K. regulators about a settlement of the rate-rigging probe, the Journal said. How much the German bank will be asked to fork over is "unclear," as is the timing, the paper said. In other Libor-related news, a senior executive at a British bank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, the first guilty plea to criminal charges secured by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office in the Libor-rigging probe, the FT said.
Bail Out Revisited: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday hit the witness stand to answer questions about the AIG bailout, with the Journal noting Paulson described the bailout as "harsh" but necessary. The Times observed Paulson admitted the terms of the bailout were probably "punitive"; and Andrew Ross Sorkin, used the Paulson testimony as a retrospective, defending the government's actions.
Wall Street Journal
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew caved in (somewhat) to congressional pressure to slow down the SIFI train. Lew said regulators will review the process for determining what institutions should be deemed "systemically important," but they still plan to continue their review of MetLife, despite the insurer's protest. The current practice "allows extensive interaction with the companies under consideration," Lew said, while also acknowledging some adjustments may be considered.
New York Times
The title of this story could be either "Here We Go Again" or "Holder's Last Hurrah." The Justice Department, led by outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, is preparing to file charges against at least one bank for colluding to rig the price of currencies, the Times reports, citing "at least a dozen" lawyers who declined to be identified. Eventually, several banks are expected to plead guilty, although the paper does not identify which are expected to do so. The paper does name five banks said to be under investigation: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and UBS. The charges are expected to focus on traders and their bosses, rather than CEOs. The Times could be accused of being a tad over-the-top with the language it used describing the desires of the American people, saying, "The public lust for charges is at odds with the view on Wall Street, where bankers and lawyers report fatigue with what seems like unrelenting investigations." Isn't "lust" going a bit overboard?
