Friday, November 22, 2013

This Week in Bank Failures

JPMorgan Chase’s $13 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, federal regulators, and four states became official. The settlement covers specific mortgage-backed securities issued by the bank and its predecessors.

A federal court ordered MF Global to repay $1 billion in lost customer funds. The order has little immediate consequence, but ultimately may ensure that the money is not spent on the bankrupt broker’s other debts.

The former chair of the collapsed Co-Op Bank in the United Kingdom was using hard drugs during his time at the bank, he admitted this week. Separately, an inquest found that the death of a Bank of America intern in London earlier this year, who worked 72 hours straight, then went home and died near the end of a 7-week internship, was due to natural causes, with no indication of the drugs that some had speculated about. In the middle of all this talk about drugs in banks, some have come to the defense of London bankers’ drug habits, arguing that the stimulants and narcotics are not such a problem because bankers use them only while on the job.

The U.S. Senate changed its filibuster rules this week after some Republicans threatened to block any vote on any judicial nominee. The changed rules make it unlikely that Janet Yellen’s nomination to head the Fed will face a procedural delay of a few months, something at least two senators who have proposed to abolish the Fed had threatened.

The NCUA liquidated one very small credit union tonight. Polish Combatants Credit Union of Bedford, Ohio had 52 members.