SIFIs

WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate Banking Committee introduced legislation Wednesday that would make municipal debt securities more attractive to banks.

Since John Stumpf's appearance before the Senate Banking Committee last week, the situation has become even worse for the Wells Fargo CEO, with new lawsuits filed, the Labor Department opening an investigation and the CFTC fining it for an unrelated action. Here's what to expect when Stumpf appears in the House on Thursday.

The bad-news stories about the largest institutions are worrisome in light of housing finance proposals that could benefit the big banks even more.

Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo laid out a sweeping vision of the future of the central bank's hallmark supervisory stress testing program — a vision that involves major concessions to midsize regionals and puts added pressure of the largest and most systemically risky banks.

In a speech Monday, Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo outlined sweeping changes to the Fed's hallmark supervisory program, including bank-specific — but substantially higher — capital minimums and dropping a qualitative grade for all but the largest and most complex banks.

In an announcement Friday afternoon, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker said his regional bank is launching an "Agenda on Poverty and Prosperity" to provide research and recommendations to Fed leaders on the interaction between poverty and economic growth.

WASHINGTON — Democratic Senators sent a letter Thursday to the Department of Labor requesting an investigation into possible labor violations at Wells Fargo related to unpaid overtime and other abuses that came to light after articles by the Los Angeles Times and a regulatory settlement announced two weeks ago.

Other investigations related to Wells Fargo may prevent the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from sharing confidential information with House investigators, Director Richard Cordray said Thursday.

Republican lawmakers are pushing back against claims by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's allies that it rooted out fraud at Wells Fargo, arguing the L.A. City Attorney and the Los Angeles Times brought the situation to light.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen today pushed back against the notion that banks might be "too big to manage", saying that despite concerns raised by the recent scandal at Wells Fargo, there is no inherent reason why large banks cannot meet existing standards of conduct.

John Stumpf may have hoped that Tuesday's hearing on Capitol Hill would mark a key turning point in Wells Fargo's blossoming scandal, but his harsh questioning by lawmakers — and his struggle to answer many of their questions — suggests that the embattled megabank's problems are just beginning.

Policymakers repeatedly said during a Senate Banking hearing Tuesday that Wells' mistakes couldn't be blamed — as the company maintains — just on rogue employees. Instead, they see a cultural problem at the San Francisco bank and wonder whether it extends beyond Wells Fargo.

The rampant unethical behavior at Wells Fargo suggests that bankers' ethics are still fundamentally awry eight years after the mortgage meltdown.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf was relentlessly questioned by lawmakers for nearly three hours Tuesday about what he knew of phony account openings and whether the bank would punish senior executives in what was arguably the worst hearing for a bank executive since the financial crisis.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called on Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf to resign Tuesday, saying Wall Street would continue to rip off customers until senior executives are held accountable.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released an open letter to Wells Fargo customers Tuesday in which she called the phony account openings "deeply disturbing," defended the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and demanded that individual executives be held accountable.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., dismissed calls Monday by a group with alleged ties to hedge funds to recuse himself from a hearing this week probing the recent enforcement action against Wells Fargo.

Contrary to their stated goals, the Fed's post-crisis regulatory and monetary policies may be contributing to U.S. income and wealth inequality, according to a new paper based on academic research from the Federal Reserve and foreign regulators.

The House Financial Services Committee said Friday it plans to open an investigation into the fraudulent account openings at Wells Fargo and will hold a hearing soon on the issue.

Big banks' flirtation with the idea of suing the Federal Reserve Board over its stress testing regime carries significant political risk and even if successful could yield at best a pyrrhic victory over the megabanks' primary regulator.