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☆ Biden issues his first veto, nixing measure blocking new investment rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Zoë Richards | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon in honor of Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2023. President Joe Biden on Monday issued his first veto since taking office, rejecting a bipartisan measure that would nullify a new administration rule for retirement plans. In the Senate vote, Democratic Sens. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., introduced the measure in February, about two months after the Labor Department issued the investment rule. Following the Senate vote, Barr tweeted: "President Biden should abandon the radical climate activists and join us in putting middle-class savers ahead of politics."

A Manhattan grand jury weighing evidence for a possible Donald Trump "hush-money" indictment. Here's a timeline of Trump and Daniels' alleged relationship, the $130,000 payment to keep Daniels silent, and the testimonies leading to a possible indictment. Markus Schreiber/APManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg convened a grand jury in mid-January of this year to consider an indictment against Trump. And Trump's former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen, prosecutors' key witness, has made repeated visits to the DA's office and to the grand jury. What could happen nextThe final witnesses were scheduled to testify before the grand jury on March 20, though it is unclear when the panel may vote.

☆ Republicans request Fed and FDIC oversight records for failed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Federal Reserve also created a Bank Term Funding Program aimed at safeguarding institutions affected by the market instability of the bank failures. In the days following the collapse, reports have emerged indicating that Silicon Valley Bank ignored repeated warnings from bank regulators that the bank would be at risk of collapse in the event that interest rates rose quickly. In it, Brown suggested that responsibility for the bank failures lay in part with top executives at the failed banks. Brown also asked the regulators to "identify and close regulatory gaps, shortfalls, or failures by state or federal regulators that contributed to the banks' failures." He did not ask for the names of individual Fed or FDIC officials involved in supervising the banks.

☆ Notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Dan Berman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and says the probe by Bragg, a Democrat, is politically motivated. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals. A federal judge ruled that Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray can be deposed for two hours each as part of the lawsuit. “What (Trump’s lawsuit) lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances,” US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote. Woodward later released “The Trump Tapes,” an audiobook featuring eight hours of raw interviews with Trump interspersed with the author’s commentary.

☆ Fed, FDIC officials to testify on recent bank failures before House committee March 29
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) logo is seen through broken glass in this picture illustration taken March 16, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoWASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - The top regulatory officials for the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will testify before a House panel on March 29 to discuss the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) and Signature Bank (SBNY.O). The House Financial Services Committee announced the hearing on Friday, and said future witnesses may be added. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr and FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg are scheduled to testify. Reporting by Pete Schroeder Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ House committee calls Fed, FDIC officials to testify in its first hearing on bank failures
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee on Friday announced its first hearing on the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The announcement follows President Joe Biden's request to Congress on Friday to allow financial regulators more authority to claw back compensation from executives at failed banks. Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said House Financial Services is "committed to getting to the bottom of the failures" of the banks. "As Chairman and Ranking Member, we take our oversight duties seriously. We will conduct this hearing without fear or favor to get the answers the American people deserve."

☆ What’s Going on With First Republic Bank?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Colin Barr | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

First Republic Bank shares have been hit hard over the past week following the failures of two large U.S. regional banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. On Thursday, shares of the bank and many other financial firms rallied after The Wall Street Journal reported that the biggest U.S. banks are discussing a joint rescue of the San Francisco lender. Under the plan, 11 banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. would place $30 billion in deposits at First Republic, using their own funds. What happened to First Republic Bank? First Republic was one of the banks to be swept up in the contagion that followed the March 10 failure of SVB Financial Corp., the parent of Silicon Valley Bank, because of some similarities including their size, their largely wealthy client base and the largely uninsured nature of their deposit bases.

☆ Credit Suisse Will Borrow Up to $53.7 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Colin Barr | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Scott Rossi for The Wall Street JournalCredit Suisse Group AG, the Swiss bank whose shares tumbled Wednesday as fears about the health of global banks jumped the Atlantic Ocean, said it would exercise its option to raise as much as 50 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to $53.7 billion, from the Swiss National Bank in a bid to stanch liquidity concerns. The firm, based in Zurich, called the decision a “decisive action to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity.”

☆ Credit Suisse Will Borrow Up to 50 Billion Swiss Francs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Colin Barr | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Credit Suisse , the Swiss bank whose shares tumbled Wednesday as fears about the health of global banks jumped the Atlantic Ocean, said it would exercise its option to raise as much as 50 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to $53.7 billion, from the Swiss National Bank in a bid to stanch liquidity concerns. The firm, based in Zurich, called the decision a “decisive action to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity.”

☆ Tech pressure, Yellen everywhere: How Washington scrambled as SVB collapsed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Yellen heads to the White House, Brainard meets with her staff and holds Zoom calls in her wood-paneled office in the West Wing. Treasury staff hustle to get Yellen on CBS News' "Face the Nation" program on Sunday, in an attempt to reassure markets. White House officials draft news releases with various scenarios, uncertain until shortly before 6 p.m. if an acquisition can still happen. As he leaves Delaware to return to the White House, Biden tells reporters he will make a statement on Monday. Treasury and White House officials reach out to members of Congress and their staffs throughout the evening to explain the plan, with discussions continuing into Monday.

☆ Fed to consider tougher rules for midsize banks after SVB collapse-source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 14 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is considering tougher rules and oversight for midsize banks similar in size to Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O), which collapsed suddenly last week, according to a source familiar with the matter. Now, a review of the $209 billion bank's failure being conducted by Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr could lead to strengthened rules on banks in the $100 billion to $250 billion range, the source told Reuters. That review of Fed supervision and regulation of the bank will be released by May 1, and augments a review of bank capital rules by Barr already underway. All those requirements could be reworked by the Fed in the aftermath of the collapse, which has also spurred fresh calls from proponents of tougher rules for regulators to rebuild those restrictions. On Tuesday, 50 Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, introduced a bill to repeal the law that eased rules for banks in 2018.

☆ AMERICAS Bank stress, bond volatility and disinflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But the implications of this sudden bout of financial instability - and its potential economic and policy fallout - were most clearly seen in the interest rate and bond markets. Implied terminal rates for the European Central Bank and Bank of England have been dramatically scaled back too - though one or two further hikes are still priced for those central banks. But the Fed rethink has led to seismic action on the U.S. Treasury market, with the biggest drop in 2-year Treasury yields on Monday since the stock market crash of 1987. Credit spreads in the corporate bond markets have also widened sharply as investors fear an economy-wide tightening of borrowing standards and financial conditions. It would certainly think twice about tightening policy again into this level of financial stress and bond market upheaval.

Fears remained on Wall Street on Monday despite the measures announced over the weekend following the collapse of California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) and New York-based Signature Bank (SBNY.O). Some investors have called for further action by banking regulators to reassure markets. But banking experts said regulators would likely want to see the extent of any further contagion before deciding on fresh measures. In addition, the Fed announced Monday it was doing an internal review of its oversight of Silicon Valley Bank, where it was the primary regulator. Prior to Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, banks had been lobbying lawmakers to push back against the Fed's review, arguing it could slow the economy.

☆ Warren urges Powell to recuse from SVB probe, demands answers of ex-bank CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to recuse himself from an internal review of recent bank failures, saying his actions "directly contributed" to them. The Federal Reserve said on Monday it is reviewing its oversight of the bank in the wake of its abrupt failure Friday. Warren argued that Powell's prior support for easing bank rules indicates he should not participate in the review. For the Fed’s inquiry to have credibility, Powell must recuse himself from this internal review," she said in a Twitter post. Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Pete Schroeder; Editing by Susan Heavey and Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Morning Bid: Bank stress, bond volatility and disinflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Sen. Warren urges Fed Chair Powell to recuse himself from review of Silicon Valley Bank collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday pushed Fed Chair Jerome Powell to remove himself from the central bank's review of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, accusing him of allowing dangerous practices that helped to cause its failure. The Massachusetts Democrat contended Powell's "actions to allow big banks like Silicon Valley Bank to boost their profits by loading up on risk directly contributed to these bank failures." "For the Fed's inquiry to have credibility, Powell must publicly and immediately recuse himself from this internal review," Warren said in a statement. "The events surrounding Silicon Valley Bank demand a thorough, transparent, and swift review by the Federal Reserve," Powell said in a statement Monday. The agency created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara to hold the insured deposits from SVB.

☆ U.S. Federal Reserve to review its oversight of Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Monday it is reviewing its oversight of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) in the wake of its abrupt failure Friday. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco was responsible for Silicon Valley Bank's supervision. "The San Francisco Fed had all the tools necessary to prevent this from happening," Senator Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican, said in an interview. "We need to understand why the San Francisco Fed wasn’t utilizing all the tools at its disposal from an oversight standpoint." A spokesperson for the San Francisco Fed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ The Fed says it will investigate its oversight of Silicon Valley Bank following the biggest bank failure since 2008
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Fed will investigate its oversight of Silicon Valley Bank, Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday. "The events surrounding Silicon Valley Bank demand a thorough, transparent, and swift review by the Federal Reserve." SVB became the biggest bank failure since 2008 after regulators closed it Friday. "The events surrounding Silicon Valley Bank demand a thorough, transparent, and swift review by the Federal Reserve," Chairman Jerome Powell said in the statement. "For a $200 billion bank to have no interest rate risk controls is staggering," he said.

☆ Why Silicon Valley Bank's customers were bailed out
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank on Friday and halted account withdrawals. Why did Silicon Valley Bank collapse? This social media firestorm created a bank run where SVB customers raced against each other to pull money from the bank. Did the government bail out Silicon Valley Bank? Will people get their money back from Silicon Valley Bank?

☆ US banks have well over $1 trillion of uninsured deposits. Signature Bank was among the most exposed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The US government shut down Signature Bank on Sunday. This time it was Signature Bank. The FDIC insures US bank deposits up to $250,000 per account to prevent bank runs and failures. The demise of SVB, and now the collapse of Signature Bank, have stretched this system to a breaking point. The authorities are giving the same special exemption to Signature Bank, so all depositors will be made whole there too.

☆ Bank-rule pendulum swings back to 'safety first'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The crisis that struck the U.S. banking system over the weekend had many causes. After the 2008 crisis, Congress bound up the financial system with rules to prevent bank death spirals. The major financial authorities – the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – applied the lighter touch. The Fed was permitted to retain tough rules for banks with assets over $100 billion, but decided not to. There are, after all, only 17 banks with assets between $100 billion and $250 billion – two fewer than last week.

☆ 3 Failed Banks This Year Were Bigger Than 25 That Crumbled in 2008
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Karl Russell | Christine Zhang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

The three banks that failed this year were worth more in inflation-adjusted assets than the 25 that collapsed in 2008. Before Silicon Valley Bank, the last bank to fail was in late 2020, as the coronavirus was ravaging the country. First Republic Bank ranks 14th, Silicon Valley Bank ranks 16th and Signature Bank ranks 29th. Silicon Valley Bank’s chief executive, Greg Becker, was a strong supporter of the move. In a review of the Fed’s oversight of Silicon Valley Bank released on Friday, Michael S. Barr, the central bank’s vice chair for supervision, said the Fed would “re-evaluate” its rules for banks that were similar in size to Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ How much will Silicon Valley Bank customers get back from the money they deposited? They may not recover it all, analysts say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Moody's, backed by Warren Buffett, specializes in assessing the financial strength of financial institutions, so SVB depositors should pay attention. Moody's downgraded SVB's long-term bank deposit rating to "Caa2," which reflects "an expected recovery rate of 80-90% for uninsured depositors," the rating agency said. For anything over $250,000 in your SVB bank account, Moody's estimates you will get 80 cents to 90 cents for each dollar deposited. That could mean that a newly supported SVB bank might open on Monday morning and depositors will have full access to their accounts. But it illustrates the risks to uninsured bank depositors.

☆ Mexico's top diplomat stresses cooperation with U.S. versus intervention
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, March 10 (Reuters) - Mexico's top diplomat on Friday criticized comments by former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who had called for increased U.S. involvement in Mexico to tackle drug cartels, saying Mexico "will never allow its sovereignty to be violated." Barr's opinion piece compared Mexico's "narco-terrorist" cartels to the jihadist Islamic State and backed a Republican proposal to give the U.S. president the power to send the military to fight against the cartels. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected the calls for U.S. intervention Thursday, calling them "irresponsible." "We need an effective drug policy, and the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico must stop," Ebrard added. Reporting by Kylie Madry Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank is a particularly scary failure. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

JPMorgan has only about 43% of its deposits uninsured via this US government backstop. Look at JPMorgan at the end of last year: Estimated uninsured deposits of $1.38 trillion versus total deposits of $2.34 trillion. "All insured depositors will have full access to their insured deposits no later than Monday morning, March 13, 2023. "Uninsured depositors will receive a receivership certificate for the remaining amount of their uninsured funds. As the FDIC sells the assets of Silicon Valley Bank, future dividend payments may be made to uninsured depositors."

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