Receiving Wide Coverage ...
Still More StanChart: The money-laundering allegations against Standard Chartered have further strained relations between U.S. and U.K. financial regulators, which were already testy from recriminations after the Libor scandal, according to the Journal. In the FT, columnist Tom Braithwaite says U.K. officials come off "thin-skinned" in their rush to defend StanChart against the accusations by New York state regulator Benjamin Lawsky. "Implicit — and sometimes explicit — in the wave of London ire at Mr. Lawsky is that he is a publicity-seeking, showboating, impertinent arriviste. … Mr. Lawsky is all of those things. That doesn't make him wrong." One virtue of the surfeit of regulatory bodies in the U.S., Braithwaite argues, is that "if one agency is slow, ineffective or incompetent there are dozens of other men and women — especially the publicity-seeking, showboating types — who have some power to step in and tackle an issue."
Wall Street Journal
HSBC has hired Robert Werner, the former director of OFAC, to the newly created (and pretty self-explanatory) job of "head of global standards assurance" following the U.K. bank's money-laundering scandal.
Auto lending is a rare area of growth, and loosening credit standards, in consumer finance. "We are seeing more 'subprime,' which is good," says Toyota's CEO for the U.S.
Julie Williams, the longtime chief counsel for the OCC, is stepping down. Consumer advocates, who considered her too soft on the industry, welcome her departure, which "may signal tougher treatment ahead for banks," the Journal says.
Columnist Francesco Guerrera compares Goldman Sachs' push to expand its private bank to KKR's foray into mutual funds — both are "playing against type" by courting individual, rather than institutional, investors.
New York Times
Columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin lays out "Everything Wall St. Should Know About [Paul] Ryan." While the GOP vice presidential candidate is an unabashed believer in free markets, Sorkin notes that Ryan reluctantly supported Tarp. The Wisconsin lawmaker also recently implied he favors separating "traditional banking" from riskier, hedge fund-like activities, and suggested banks should be prevented from growing too big to fail, Sorkin points out.
Elsewhere ...
New York: The magazine interviews Jamie Dimon, who, as always, provides a bounty of memorable quotes. The JPMorgan CEO won't address his erstwhile mentor Sandy Weill's recent call to separate commercial and investment banking, but Dimon mounts an impassioned defense of scale in financial services: "There are huge benefits to size. We bank Caterpillar in like 40 countries. … Size lets us build a $500 million data center that speeds up transactions and invest billions of dollars in products like ATMs and apps that allow your iPhone to deposit checks. ... These aren't, like, little things. And they accrue to the customer." Readers who are offended by strong language are advised to skip the last paragraph.
