Fresh off news of decreased SEC enforcement in the past year and the outgoing FDIC chief’s concerns about weakening regs, we’ve got word that the OCC is dialing back its regulatory bent in an effort to return to its “natural state” – NYTimes
And then there’s word that embattled Head of the CFPB, Richard Cordray, is stepping down 6 months ahead of the end of his 5-year term. Under Cordray’s leadership, the nascent agency “extracted nearly $12 billion for 29 million consumers in refunds and canceled debts” – NYTimes and WSJ and Law360
Uhhh, about that P&G narrow escape of the Nelson Peltz proxy fight… Turns out that a recount found that Peltz actually won the day by a narrow margin – WSJ and Bloomberg
Breakingviews sizes up Cerberus Capital’s chances of reviving a merger between German banking giants Deutsche Bank and rival Commerzbank and gives it a “Nein” (Cerberus’ decent-sized stakes in both banks notwithstanding) – NYTimes and WSJ
A group of Resource Capital REIT shareholders are asking a SDNY Judge to keep around their claims against the company’s board, arguing that it’s responsible for the $41 million loss on a Puerto Rican-hotel-backed loan – Law360
The general consensus about Jerome Powell as new Fed chief is that he represented continuity with the current Yellen era. But that’s not stopping some at the Fed from pushing for a “radical revamp of the playbook for guiding US monetary policy,” especially during this moment of relative “economic calm” – Bloomberg
Quick update on Venezuela’s debt issues that combines some financial relief with some geopolitical intrigue, as Russia has agreed to offer the struggling country billions in debt relief – WSJ
The Times’ art section gives us this exploration of a rare 7-foot-long L’Enfant watercolor of the Continental Army encamped near West Point and the surprising detail it contains that historians believe (thanks to some serious sleuthing) depicts Gen. Washington’s HQ – NYTimes