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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

06 Oct 2011 17:19

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Politics: Herman Cain is no friend of Occupy Wall Street

  • “I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe…”: Herman Cain is downright unimpressed with Occupy Wall Street, and he’s not afraid to let us know it. We suspect those of you who are sympathetic to (or participating in) this movement probably weren’t likely Cain voters anyways, but his strident denunciation here probably won’t win him any converts: “It is not a person’s fault if they succeeded, it is a person’s fault if they failed.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2011 01:01

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Biz, Tech: Could Bank of America’s debit card charge push us to digital wallets?

  • It may be too early now to talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences, but years from now, we may owe a debt to reforms like Dodd-Frank for finally weaning us off the physical wallet and encouraging us to experiment with the new technologies helping to create the Digital Wallet.
  • The Washington Post’s Dominic Basulto • Arguing that Dodd-Frank’s side effects — such as Bank of America‘s decision to start charging people for the right to use a debit card — will be great in the long run, because it will push consumers and businesses to stop relying on banks for these sorts of services, instead going for phone-based options, provided by companies such as Google or Square, instead. Basuito compares Bank of America’s controversial move to Netflix‘s price-raising scheme, and suggests it will hurt them long-term. 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

25 Aug 2011 10:31

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Biz: Warren Buffett invests a ton of cash in struggling Bank of America

  • $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett to Bank of America source
  • » Giving it to the needy: Our boy Warren Buffett, who recently took the U.S. government to task for not raising taxes on the rich, is giving a big cash infusion to a company that’s struggling build confidence in investors. It’s taken a hit on the stock market — its shares are down nearly 30 percent since the beginning of August and it just announced some huge job cuts — and it owns a couple of properties, Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, noted for their spectacular combustions during the financial crisis. Buffett’s deal is pretty sweet — a 6 percent annual dividend and a 5 percent premium if he buys back the stock — but he nonetheless sounds like he’s doing it out of respect for the company. “I am impressed with the profit-generating abilities of this franchise, and that they are acting aggressively to put their challenges behind them,” Buffett said in a statement. “Bank of America is focused on their customers and on serving them well. That’s what customers want, and that’s the company’s strategy.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2011 01:57

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Biz: Bank of America dropping some assets. By “assets,” we mean people.

  • 10,000+ number of workers expected to lose their jobs in a company restructuring; that’s 3.5 percent of the workforce
  • 3,500 workers could get laid off this quarter alone, which is happening in efforts to stage a company turnaround source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 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

16 Sep 2010 10:53

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Biz: A dubious record, hit again: Home repossessions up yet again

  • 25% increase in repossessions of homes by banks source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 13:48

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Biz: European banks put to the test, couldn’t handle the stress

  • seven banks number of EU financial institutions that failed a stress test
  • $4.5 billion the size of the shortfall the banks collectively faced source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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