Receiving Wide Coverage ...
Are stress tests too easy?: Bank stress tests "are getting easier," the Wall Street Journal writes. That's because Federal Reserve officials "now envision a system where firms would generally only fail the test if their capital levels dipped below the level the Fed views as healthy — in other words
Gretchen Morgenson, the New York Times' financial editor and columnist, says bank stress-test results shouldn't always be trusted. Looking at the recent failure of Banco Popular, Spain's fifth largest bank, she notes that as recently as last year the bank's stress test, conducted in cooperation with the European Banking Authority, "
The Financial Times looks at the U.S. stress test's "supplementary leverage ratio," which it says could impact how much cash banks would be allowed to return to shareholders. "Bankers are critical of the ratio, which is seen as
Italy to the rescue: The Italian government agreed to provide an immediate €5 billion of taxpayer money to two failing regional banks. It also agreed to provide an additional €12 billion in guarantees to cover losses from the two banks' bad loans. The banks' good assets would be transferred to Intesa Sanpaolo, the country's strongest bank, for a nominal sum.
One of the problems with European banks, the Journal's Heard on the Street column says, is that there are too many of them. "
Wall Street Journal
No pay in P2P: Companies like JPMorgan Chase and Apple are willing to forgo profits on their person-to-person payments systems. "The reason: even if such services aren't profitable today, companies believe they are vital to
Déjà vu: More than 20 years ago, when IBM "made the decision to embrace the internet and make it the centerpiece of its strategic directions," Irving Wladawsky-Berger, who worked at the computer giant for 37 years, said "The Internet has the potential to
Financial Times
Chilling effect: The Financial Choice Act may be a "potential heyday for the banking sector," but is a "blatant attack" on the rights of bank shareholders, says Madison Marriage, deputy editor of FTfm. While most of the coverage of the bill has focused on its rolling back many of the Obama administration's post-financial crisis banking regulations, the measure also includes "a set of proposals that would hinder investors' ability to file motions at shareholder meetings significantly," Marriage writes. "Limiting the ability to file shareholder resolutions to a handful of the biggest U.S. investment houses would be a huge step backwards for corporate governance practices. The Financial Choice Act is a
New York Times
Improving credit reports: Starting July 1, about 12 million people will see their credit scores improve as the three major credit reporting companies "wipe from their records two major sources of negative information about borrowers: tax liens and civil judgments," the paper reports. "The change will benefit borrowers with negative public records, but it will also help thousands of people who have battled, often in vain, to have
Quotable
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