Risk management

Citigroup unexpectedly lost a legal battle to recover half a billion dollars it sent Revlon lenders, after the embarrassing blunder forced it to answer to regulators and tighten its internal controls.

Still under fire for financing oil-and-gas exploration, banks are now being criticized for bankrolling producers of the single-use bottles and wrappers that are piling up in landfills and waterways. How will they respond to the mounting pressure from environmentalists?

The Biden administration’s yet-to-be-named comptroller of the currency is widely expected to invalidate the GOP-backed measure that bars banks from shunning gun makers, fossil-fuel producers and the like. But another option is to recast it to promote investment in underserved communities.

The enforcement action, which concerned deficiencies in the auto lender’s compliance risk management program, was the last remaining regulatory matter Santander had to resolve.

Citigroup’s incoming CEO, Jane Fraser, created a new global operating team aimed at improving accountability among its top executives, as the firm continues to address a litany of concerns raised by regulators last year.

The Maryland company agreed to improve its risk and compliance controls, estimating that it will cost $2 million to make changes.

The OCC had hit James Strother and other executives with civil charges a year ago in connection with the bank's phony-accounts scandal. His monetary penalty is lower than what the agency had first floated.

Issued in the final days of the Trump administration, the regulation has united banks, gun-control advocates and environmentalists in opposition. It could be blocked by Congress or a comptroller chosen by the new president.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a rulemaking Thursday morning opposed by the industry that forces the largest banks to provide services to gun businesses and other sectors to which banks have curtailed lending.

In the wake of last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol, New York-based Signature is also calling on the president to resign before his term ends next week.