Investments

The Georgia company said the agency is looking at its policies for paying, or withholding, Paycheck Protection Program fees to borrowers' agents.

The general structure of this year’s reviews is unchanged despite the pandemic. But a supplemental analysis of banks' response to the downturn could weigh heavily in evaluating 2020 capital distributions and making adjustments to the tests over the long run.

Payouts continue to be relatively generous, but that could change if the Federal Reserve demands banks bolster capital or the economy worsens.

Investors are looking past signs of weakness and toward an eventual recovery, but top executives at BlackRock, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other financial firms remain cautious as many cities and states remain in partial lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

COO says bank is on track to meet growth targets but expects more consumer lending losses; the mortgage agencies’ ability to raise $240 billion in capital before going private won’t be easy.

Despite record low mortgage rates, borrowers are having trouble getting loans from wary lenders; the underperforming American unit may be ditched in U.K. bank restructuring.

KKR & Co. said it negotiated its biggest Asian transaction, a $1.5 billion deal to buy stake in Mukesh Ambani’s India-based digital platform business, in 10 days.

The regional wants to “play offense” with the proceeds of its $17 billion BlackRock stake; shares of some bank shares jumped 6% Thursday but remain well behind the rest of the market.

But market observers remain unsure whether changes to the $100 billion Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility program will boost CLO investor demand or new-deal issuance, given key restrictions that remain in place.

The pandemic has fostered the distribution of even more bad information on social media. Banks and other companies need to step up to solve the problem — including support of tougher legal restrictions on internet content.