SIFIs

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.

The Federal Reserve's annual stress testing regime violates federal administrative law, a coalition of banking groups said in a white paper released Thursday, likely previewing a court battle that could have far-reaching consequences for the program.

The revelation of widespread fraud at Wells Fargo branches suggests that no matter how well run a large bank appears to be, it can't detect systemic problems within its own ranks.

With the risk-taking culture at big banks — including that which contributed to the Wells Fargo fiasco — it's a good thing the House bill to weaken Dodd-Frank will never become law.

New recommendations by the Federal Reserve Board are a crucial step in the direction of much-needed restructuring of the U.S. financial sector.

Chairman Jeb Hensarling's financial reform bill was approved by the Financial Services Committee along mostly party lines as Democrats declined to offer amendments to legislation they said was too flawed to begin with.

In a speech in Washington on Monday, JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said that political divisions between Republicans and Democrats are keeping the country from solving solvable common problems and reaching its economic potential.

Democratic lawmakers are calling for Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf to testify before a Senate panel as part of an investigation into nearly 2 million fraudulent bank and credit card accounts that Wells employees opened in an effort to meet sales incentives.

The Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision – the supervising body for the Basel Committee on banking Supervision -- on Sunday endorsed the broad direction of final Basel III risk-weighted capital rules, including assurances that the final rules would require significant additional capital.

In an interview Friday morning, Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo said that enforcement agencies and even the Department of Justice need to hold individuals accountable amid revelations that thousands of Wells Fargo employees opened illegal accounts for customers.

Nellie Liang, director of the Federal Reserve's Division of Financial Stability, has announced her retirement after 30 years with the central bank.