Receiving Wide Coverage ... Rethinking Volcker: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is starting the process to revamp the Volcker rule on proprietary trading by banks. The OCC is expected to ask for public feedback as early as Wednesday on potential changes to the rule. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times
The move by the OCC "raised investors' hopes that the process of loosening rules on Wall Street will succeed even though other areas of the Trump administration agenda, such as tax reform, are awaiting Congressional action — for which expectations have dimmed," the Financial Times said. Bank stocks rallied, with the S&P 500 financial index rising to 419.54, its highest level since late 2007, and shares of some individual big banks climbing over 1%.
Splitsville: Bitcoin Cash, the bitcoin offshoot, got off to an inauspicious start on its first day of trading on Tuesday. The digital currency traded around $270, about a tenth of the value of original bitcoin, which was worth about $2,750.
"It is unclear how successful the new cryptocurrency will be, or how much activity it will generate," the Wall Street Journal reported. Most digital currency exchanges so far aren't supporting Bitcoin Cash, it said.
Financial Times columnist Izabella Kaminska writes that the split between alternate versions of bitcoin is "a judgment of Solomon moment. Only a decisive win by either side will prevent bitcoin from splitting itself apart."
Financial Times They're b-a-a-ck: Collateralized loan obligations, which have been blamed for causing much of the damage during the financial crisis, are starting to make a comeback, and Frank Partnoy, a professor at the University of San Diego, is concerned that the financial markets are ignoring their potential harm.
"Like its earlier esoteric cousins, a CLO bundles risky low-grade loans into attractive packages and high credit ratings," he writes in an op-ed piece. "Although most of the loans underlying these deals are of 'junk' status, more than half the new debt is rated triple A. Sound familiar?"
Sticking with London: Deutsche Bank signed a lease for a new headquarters in London, "confirming its commitment to the capital despite plans to move some staff to Frankfurt following the U.K.'s vote to leave" the European Union, the FT reports. "The commitment comes despite a warning in April that thousands of Deutsche Bank's U.K. staff may be forced to relocate after Brexit, since the U.K.'s departure from the EU is likely to limit banks' ability to serve European clients from London."
Hangin' with Mr. Cooper: The FT has a profile of Simon Cooper, the man charged with reviving Standard Chartered.
New York Times "Carl E. Reichardt, who as chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo during the 1980s and ′90s introduced a leaner approach to commercial banking that served as a model for the industry, died on July 13 at his home in Belvedere, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was 86."
Quotable "The path is a little clearer for some regulatory relief." — Brant Houston, managing director at CIBC Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management, about the possibility of revamping the Volcker rule.
The Dallas-based regional bank tapped a client for its copilot capabilities, where employees can message a bot instead of a human to get tech assistance.
Leaders of ORNL Federal Credit Union are piloting Zest AI's new artificial intelligence-powered assistant to ensure equitable underwriting practices and measure performance against similar institutions.
Powered by younger, affluent cardholders, American Express saw a 6% increase in billed business during the first quarter, while weak growth still plagues its small-business segment.
For the better part of the past decade, the Federal Reserve Board in Washington has played a more active role in presidential searches by regional reserve banks. The shift seems to have made the system more diverse, but some argue it's at the expense of regional bank independence.
The Cleveland-based bank is projecting steady growth in net interest income even as credit losses remain manageable. But Chairman and CEO Chris Gorman also said that he thinks a recession is likely.