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25 Jan 2012 10:14

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Biz: HSBC faces money-laundering investigation in Senate

  • A big company with big problems: Reuters is reporting that HSBC is facing some tough allegations in the Senate, with the company reportedly getting investigated for its role in sketchy money-laundering practices. Reuters reports that while the scale of the investigation isn’t known, signs point to breakdowns in the company’s anti-money-laundering systems. In response to the Senate allegations, the company’s spokesman responded: “We have ongoing discussions with officials on a number of regulatory and compliance matters. The nature of these discussions is confidential; in all cases, we are cooperating.” Read more at the link. (awesome, incredibly fitting photo by Flickr user Will Survive) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2011 08:35

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Biz: Not every financial outlet trying Bank of America’s debit card fees

  • cause Last month, Bank of America decided that it would start charging monthly for the use of debit cards. Some companies (including SunTrust and Regions) followed suit. Consumers freaked out and totally got up on arms.
  • reaction With some time and distance away from the original decision, a number of large banks have chosen not to follow suit — among them J.P. Morgan Chase, which tested them for months and found that they weren’t working. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Oct 2011 16:16

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U.S.: Why the anti-Bank of America “Take Back Boston” protests worked so well

  • Much credit to these protesters: In some ways, these protests were arguably more effective in one quick burst than the Occupy Wall Street protests have been in one long, slow-moving one. With a specific target (Bank of America) and a specific reason (their overly harsh handling of foreclosures) the result is a protest that plays well for the cameras and effectively encapsulates the point of what’s going on. People got arrested, but they did peacefully. It took a while to draw some reaction from Occupy Wall Street; Bank of America was forced to dismiss the protests as a PR stunt right away. But the fact they had to say anything at all is a big deal. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2011 22:16

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Biz: Just what we all need: Wells Fargo to introduce a new fee on debit cards

  • 5 states will get a new $3 monthly fee from Wells Fargo; hooray!!! source
  • » Is one of them yours? Debit card users in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada and Georgia could see a charge of $3 per month. Want to avoid the fee? Either sign up for a special account or simply stop using your debit card. Simple, right?
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2011 23:20

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U.S.: Federal Reserve slaps Wells Fargo with puny $85 million penalty

  • $85 millionpaid by Wells Fargo for its role in the subprime mortgage fiasco; the penalty was issued by the Federal Reserve
  • $25 billion received by Wells Fargo from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, colloquially known as the bailout source
  • » This is both the largest consumer protection fine ever levied by the Fed and the first time the institution has punished a bank for nudging customers into subprime loans. There’s more to come, too; in addition to the fine, the order also “requires that Wells Fargo compensate affected borrowers,” although it’s unclear how this will work. It’s better than nothing, but $85 million just seems a bit low; as a point of comparison, the bank made $2.5 billion in the first three months of 2010 alone.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jun 2011 11:21

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Biz: Senate goes back-and-forth fighting over debit card fees

  • 44¢ the average cost of debit card interchange fees to merchants; this should make you feel guilty every time you go to 7-Eleven, because that cuts into profit margins heavily
  • 12¢ the limit that the Feds plan to impose upon banking companies about this matter; this is a $16 billion/year business, and banking companies are fighting to protect it source
  • » A fight that directly affects small businesses: We’ve been to many small businesses in our day that have gone out of their way to avoid using debit cards, specifically for this reason. We’re with them in this case; really high charges for every purchase, even tiny ones, is straight up greedy. Fortunately, a key senator, Dick Durbin, agrees with us: “Honestly, are we going to stand here and say we can’t protect small businesses across America struggling to survive?” The fight for keeping the fees has bipartisan support; the main guys backing banks in the Senate are Bob Corker (R-TN) and Jon Tester (D-MT). They claim that banks will have to replace the interchange charges with higher fees on consumers. Maybe they should; the benefit to small business as an economic driver makes it worth it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2011 10:53

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Biz: Bank of America takes epic charge on its hot mortgage mess

  • $2.24
    billion     the amount the bailed-out Bank of America lost in 2010, hurt by charges due to their Countrywide merger
  • $4.1
    billion     the size of the charge they had to take for investors with claims against their mortgage securities  source
  • » Why such a big charge? Apparently, someone at Bank of America (or Countrywide) was really bad at doing paperwork, or was trying to push through half-baked mortgages. Because both were named as factors in creating the huge charges which resulted from investors making claims against them. Most of the fees are headed to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, by the way. Had this charge (and a separate $2 billion goodwill charge related to the Countrywide merger) not been there, Bank of America would’ve been profitable in the fourth quarter.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Oct 2010 09:43

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Biz: Financial reform bill puts Bank of America in the red this quarter

  • $7.3 billion in quarterly losses for Bank of America
  • $10.4
    billion     the size of the company’s one-time charge the company will take due to fees caused by the Dodd-Frank financial reform act
  • $3.1
    billion     the size of the company’s net income otherwise, which beat estimates; they plan to be more transparent about fees in the future source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Oct 2010 10:32

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Biz: Banking profits: Citigroup has another moneymaking quarter

  • $2.2 billion in profits for the banking giant source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2010 21:36

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Biz: Taking the first step: Bank of America ditching overdraft fees

  • good Bank of America, which has made millions of dollars in profit off of people not having much in their bank accounts, will end the often-pricey practice of automatically charging fees at retail this summer.
  • better Consumers will have more flexibility when deciding when to accept overdrafts elsewhere – they have to accept the charge at ATMs and can still set it up for automatic payments or checks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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