The years since the 2007–2008 financial crisis have been marked with milestone settlements of claims against the major mortgage “aggregators” (sometimes also known as “investors” in the mortgage purchasing context), who then...more
The United States and Mexico appear poised to move past a last-minute snag over new language on Labor Department attaches to posts in Mexico. Mexico feared that the diplomats would “act as labor inspectors,” and for a day or...more
On June 3, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as conservator for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York...more
The SEC will vote today on what it’s calling Regulation Best Interest, “which says brokers can’t put their own paychecks ahead of a customer’s needs”—the more-industry-acceptable revision of an Obama-era fiduciary duty rule...more
On January 14, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York granted a joint request from plaintiff certificateholder Royal Park Investments SA/NV and defendant trustee Wells Fargo Bank NA to...more
British lawmakers are voting today on Theresa May’s updated Brexit plan, and by all accounts, it’s been a mad dash for the Prime Minister in recent weeks to shore up support for a plan “that could go down to a humiliating...more
After a brutal Tuesday, the White House tried to take advantage of yesterday’s market day off to run some damage control “and ease concerns that [the] trade truce with China was already floundering.” I suspect we’ll find out...more
Saudi Arabia is pushing OPEC and its allies to cut oil production in 2019, and it’s doing its own part by exporting 500,000 fewer barrels a day in December than now—all an attempt to “counter the price rout battering the...more
Less than a day after the Journal reported that CBS and the Redstones are nearing a deal to resolve their many differences, we’ve learned that CBS chief Les Moonves—facing an investigation into alleged sexual harassment...more
U.S. Financial Industry Developments - Community Reinvestment Act: Revisions to Impact of Evidence of Discriminatory or Other Illegal Credit Practices on Community Reinvestment Act Ratings... ...more
U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Plaintiff-Investors’ attempts in Blackrock Allocation Target Shares et al. v. Wells Fargo et al., No. 1:14-cv-09371 (S.D.N.Y.) to overturn two magistrate judge decisions...more
Elon Musk had some explaining to do in light of his “funding secured” tweet on August 7 in the context of taking Tesla private, and he’s gone to the corporate blog to do so, arguing that his meetings with representatives of...more
On Wednesday, Wells Fargo revealed that it reached a settlement with the DOJ after months of negotiating that will see the bank pay $2.09 billion to resolve allegations over its sales of toxic mortgage-backed securities in...more
We used to call it Nafta. If the White House has its way, we may be talking about M/USTA and C/USTA. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?...more
More trouble for Wells Fargo, as news emerged yesterday that some employees in the company’s business banking wholesale unit “altered information on documents related to corporate customers” without customers’...more
Anbang Insurance founder Wu Xiahoui’s fall from grace now includes an 18-year prison sentence for his conviction by a Shanghai court for using Anbang to “cheat investors out of more than $10 billion”....more
China announced yesterday that it was loosening its rules forcing foreign carmakers to link up with a local partner before building factories in China—a move that some see as a step to lowering tensions with the US....more
The Journal dropped something of a bomb on Friday with news that Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein is heading out the door as soon as the end of the year. If true, Goldman will likely look for his replacement within its...more
Markets proved that last Friday’s 600-point Dow drop wasn’t an isolated incident, as all major US indices were down nearly 4% (at least) in a nasty Monday of trading....more
In a January 10, 2018 ruling unsealed on January 19, Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recommended denial of Royal Park Investments’ request for class...more
A look at Amazon’s newest concept—Amazon Go—a convenience store that opens in Seattle today complete with “shelves of food” found at other stores (including Whole Foods) but with nary a cashier in sight....more
Here’s the inside scoop on “Sheltered Harbor,” a “doomsday project” from US banks that they hope will “prevent a run on the financial system should one of them suffer a debilitating cyberattack.” The gargantuan voluntary...more
The moral of this story is as follows: if Maysayoshi Son says the merger’s off, it’s probably off (regardless of what the rest of the board says). We discussed the will they/won’t they status of the T-Mobile/Sprint deal last...more
American Express Chair and CEO Kenneth Chenault announced that he’s stepping down next year after 16 years at the helm of AmEx. He’ll be succeeded by Vice Chair Stephen Squeri....more
Equifax is not exactly ending the week on a high note. The credit reporting agency revealed yesterday that a cyberattack [uncovered nearly 2 months ago] rendered potentially vulnerable the information of 143 million people....more