The Scan for Tuesday, July 26

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

A Split Decision: Deutsche Bank said Anshu Jain, head of its investment bank, and Jürgen Fitschen, the German bank's head of regional management, will become co-CEOs of the bank next year when Josef Ackermann retires. One holdup, according to the Times, had been that Jain, a native of India who is not fluent in German, is regarded as not ready to assume the statesmanlike duties required of Deutsche Bank's chief. The Journal said the decision to have co-CEOs is "a compromise solution that could complicate decision-making at the top." The Post said the bank's stock prices rose after the announcement. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

Greek Redux: The plan to prop up Greece looks "suspiciously like a plan to bolster European banks," a Times news analysis says. Banks are getting to unload much of their Greek risk onto the European Union. The Journal looks at the relationship between Prime Minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras, the men who will ultimately decide the nation's fate. The men held secret talks to reach a deal. The paper warns, "If Mr. Papandreou's slim hold on Parliament fails, the whole bailout plan could fall apart." Wall Street Journal, New York Times

Wall Street Journal

"Heard on the Street" raised concerns about New York Community Bancorp, which said it would pay dividends of 25 cents a share despite earnings of only 27 cents a share. The 92% payout ration far exceeds the Fed's suggested 30% ratio. The bank said it hadn't discussed the dividend with regulators.

New York Times

"This Is Considered Punishment?" So begins Joe Nocera's column on the Fed's $85 million fine of Wells Fargo ("a joke," Nocera writes) for unfair practices during the subprime housing bubble. "The settlement raises the question that just won’t go away: Why can’t the federal government prosecute financial wrongdoers?"

Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in Dealbook that the markets' "blasé response" to the administration's "sky is falling" warnings of a potential debt default "presents a serious challenge for the administration. ... While the sky indeed may fall if the sides cannot compromise, the fact that the market has been calm has served only to deepen the resistance to a deal. People who perhaps should be worried don’t seem to be, and worse, appear to have stopped listening to the warnings. How did it come to this?"

Banks should stop lobbying against higher equity requirements, writes a Stanford economics professor. When too much of banks' total assets are committed to debt, it can wreak financial havoc.

The FDIC's National Mall softball team, which has only two wins this season, is named "Too Big to Fail."

Washington Post

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is about to seek documents filed by Reston-based Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems as part of an ongoing investigation into unlawful foreclosure practices. Coakley is among the attorneys general who have been reluctant to grant banks immunity over questionable foreclosure practices.