Investments

Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase are ditching safeguards on credit lines to CLO managers, to defend their market share as arrangers in the lucrative business.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the market dislocations of the past year resulting from the pandemic had changed the impact that the supplementary leverage ratio was having on the largest banks. After temporarily easing the requirement, the central bank is considering longer-term reforms.

In the past five years combined only 14 banks failed to meet the minimum market capitalization for inclusion in the index. In this year's rebalancing, 82 are being removed and some may have to consider strategic options to appease investors.

The largest financial institutions say the agency’s proposal to require public companies to disclose their contributions and vulnerability to climate change is consistent with investor demand. Community banks say it would create an unnecessary regulatory burden.

Fitch says it will be weighing failures of management standards and practices at banks more heavily when considering possible downgrades. ESG advocates are cheering the development.

The company's payment processing platform supports the likes of Uber and Square in their ambitions to create all-in-one offerings that bundle financial and other services.

Dave, a banking startup that’s been backed by investors including Mark Cuban and Capital One Financial, agreed to go public in a deal with a blank-check firm that values the company at $4 billion.

Mark Carney, a onetime Bank of England governor, argued that banks should not cut ties with polluting businesses, but rather work with clients to help them minimize their impact on the environment.

While the industry is facing greater pressure to scrutinize the environmental risks associated with its financing activities, many banks also sense opportunities in climate change. Here are some examples.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles suggested that the massive influx of reserves stemming from the central bank's COVID-19 response may lead to a recalibration of the supplementary leverage ratio.

The funding requests break sharply with the Trump administration's calls to eliminate key housing funds and backing for community development financial institutions. The White House also wants to substantially increase the budgets of the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration.

The U.S. unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank plans to invest in CDFIs and specialized funds that serve Black, Hispanic and other diverse business owners in its East Coast territory.

The financial technology firm Stash is exploring options for a market listing, such as merging with a special purpose acquisition company or a traditional initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Treasury secretary previewed President Biden's budget by urging lawmakers to fund the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's establishment of a beneficial ownership regime.

The deal with Pioneer Merger Corp. is expected to close in the second half of the year.

The heads of the six largest banks aimed to promote their COVID-19 relief in testimony to the Banking Committee. Democrats said their efforts were insufficient while Republicans criticized the executives for taking public stances on issues like climate change and voting rights.

A New York court ordered the freezing of $560 million in assets held by entities controlled by Renren CEO Joseph Chen, Softbank Group and others, an amount pegged to a stake in the personal finance startup Social Finance, which is slated for a blank-check merger this week.

The fintech's investors include the actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom and Robert Downey Jr.

Despite concerns about the scope of information that companies would have to provide about risks linked to climate change, some of the largest institutions are seeking to collaborate with the agency as it develops a framework for informing investors.

Last year, many banks made big, splashy pledges to advance racial equity. Now some of those banks are seeking to hold executives accountable for those efforts through their paychecks.