Friday, March 6, 2015

This Week in Bank Failures

The British government plans to sell its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland before the end of the year, despite taking a loss around £6 billion. The government gave the bank a £45 billion bailout in 2008 and 2009, but the bank is still losing money, posting losses of £43 billion since.

An appeals court affirmed an $8.5 billion 2011 settlement between Bank of America and institutional buyers of mortgage-backed securities.

All 31 giant banks passed the first round of U.S. stress tests.

The FCA has banned Bank of Beirut from taking on new customers in high-risk areas for four months after the bank missed deadlines and lied to regulators about its progress in implementing money laundering controls. The bank and two employees will pay fines in the case.

Negative interest rates are causing technical glitches across Western Europe. Transaction and control systems built with the design assumption that interest rates can only be positive are causing unexpected problems as they are adapted to the current environment in which interest rates can be negative.