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☆ The American consumer has bad news for the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That’s why Wall Street is already fretting over Friday’s retail sales report, which is expected to show that the mighty American consumer is pulling back. Economists forecast that retail sales fell 0.4% in March from the month before. But Goldman Sachs and Bank of America analysts say core sales — that’s without autos, gasoline, and building materials — slowed by about 1%. A taxing problem: Still, the health of the American consumer is still relatively strong, the BofA analysts said. A one-bedroom apartment had a median rent of $4,150, up 9.6% from last year, while a two-bedroom apartment had a median rent of $5,680, up 18.3% from a year ago.

☆ India's Infosys forecasts slower FY24 revenue growth of 4%-7%
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 13 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS) on Thursday forecast slower revenue growth for the current fiscal year compared with analysts' expectations, amid a turmoil in the U.S. banking sector that has prompted clients to tighten spending. India's second-largest IT services firm expects revenue growth of 4%-7% for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Analysts expected growth of 10.73% for the period, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Infosys won large deals worth $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $2.3 billion in the same period the previous year. Infosys' consolidated net profit rose 7.77% to 61.28 billion rupees ($749.10 million) in the three months ended March 31, while revenue rose 16% to 374.41 billion rupees.

☆ Buffett: Do not panic about U.S. banking industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Wednesday said people should not be panicked about the banking industry or the safety of U.S. bank deposits, despite the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. People "do not need to be panicked" about the banking industry and "shouldn't be worried about deposits they have in an American bank," a message that has recently gotten "confused" and "mixed up," Buffett said. "It does really, really affect the system when people lose confidence in banks," he said. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10 after losses on fixed-income investments left it short of capital, triggering a bank run. Buffett was speaking from Tokyo, where he was visiting five large Japanese trading houses in which Berkshire has investments.

[1/2] The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) logo is seen at the FDIC headquarters in Washington, February 23, 2011. Here is what is known about the assessment and the insurance fund:What is the Deposit Insurance Fund? The law does not define the "assessment base" for the special assessment or which banks will pay it. Who will pay the special assessment? Top officials in Washington have signaled that regulators likely won't make the smaller banks pay for last month's failures this time round either.

☆ Buffett: Do not panic about U.S. banks and deposits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said people should not be panicked about the banking industry or the safety of U.S. bank deposits, despite the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. "People shouldn't be worried about losing their money and their deposits they have in an American bank, but the message has gotten very confused," Buffett, 92, said on CNBC. Berkshire's equity portfolio includes several banks, including a $34.2 billion year-end stake in Bank of America Corp (BAC.N). Buffett says banks have "mismanaged" assets and liabilities for a long time, and "every now and then it bites them in a big way." Buffett also said he would bet $1 million that no American depositor would lose money from a bank failure in the next year.

☆ Buffett says U.S. bank deposits are safe and the government would backstop all of them if necessary
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Warren Buffett said Americans should not be concerned about their bank deposits in the wake of the latest financial shock in the sector and the government would ensure no depositor in this country lost a dime. Buffett said the government would likely step in to backstop all depositors in all U.S. banks if that was ever necessary, though he did note that would require Congressional approval. Bank stocks largely tumbled in March as investors grew skittish on the sector, with the selloff specifically focused on regional banks amid liquidity concerns. To restore confidence, 11 banks put $30 billion in deposits in First Republic Bank , whose shares have tumbled during the shock. Buffett noted that shareholders may lose out if more bank failures occur and rightly so, but depositors shouldn't be worried.

☆ Earnings playbook: Your guide to trading the start of a big reporting season this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Thursday Delta Air Lines is set to report earnings before the bell, followed by a conference call with management at 10 a.m. This quarter: Analysts polled by Refinitiv expect revenue to have jumped more than 45% from the year-earlier period, Refinitiv data shows. Friday JPMorgan Chase is set to report earnings before the bell, followed by a call with management at 8:30 a.m. What history shows: FactSet data shows JPMorgan Chase topped earnings estimates in eight of the last 10 quarters. What history shows: Bespoke data shows UnitedHealth beats earnings estimates 93% of the time.

The latter could slam global growth back to about 1% this year, effectively a recession on a per-capita GDP basis. 'PERILOUS' RISKSThe IMF's Global Financial Stability Report warned of a "perilous combination of vulnerabilities" in financial markets, saying that some participants had failed to adequately prepare for the impact of interest rate increases. Despite the warnings, the IMF's chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, said inflation is still the bigger problem and that price stability should take precedence over financial stability risks for central banks' monetary policy. Only in the event of a very severe financial crisis should those priorities be reversed, he said in a news conference. She added that the global financial system was also resilient due to reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis.

In its latest Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF said global financial stability risks had increased "rapidly" in the six months since its previous assessment when it was already touting hazards as being "significantly skewed" to the downside. The IMF said the bank failures "have been a powerful reminder" of the challenges wrought by tighter monetary policy - and the more stringent financial conditions it generated - and the buildup in vulnerabilities since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. Problems at U.S. regional banks grew last year, as rapidly rising interest rates slashed the value of some banks' holdings in long-term assets such as home loans and government bonds. Going forward, regional banks could face greater scrutiny with respect to their holdings and funding structures, the IMF cautioned. Even still, authorities should be more prepared to deal with financial instability, the IMF recommended, including by strengthening their bank resolution regimes.

Earnings per share for the six biggest U.S. banks are expected to be down about 10% from a year earlier, analyst estimates from Refinitiv I/B/E/S show. The bank is expected to report a 30% rise in EPS, buoyed by an almost 36% increase in net interest income, according the Refinitiv I/B/E/S estimates and Reuters calculations. "We expect a challenging earnings season for the banks," said David Chiaverini, banking analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note. He said bank managements will become more defensive, implementing liquidity measures that could lead to downward revisions for net interest income. Net interest income for the six biggest U.S. banks are expected to be up about 30% from a year earlier, according to analyst estimates from Refinitiv I/B/E/S.

☆ How FDIC dropped the ball and picked up the tab
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bank watchdogs don’t have a crystal ball when it comes to spotting bank runs. The FDIC is one of several agencies that watches over American banks, but it’s the one that picks up the tab when a lender fails. Gruenberg, on the FDIC board since 2005, did not support the rapid phased prototyping data project, fretting that it amounted to outsourcing supervision, according to people familiar with the situation. For all but the biggest banks, the FDIC continues to rely on quarterly snapshots known as “call reports,” and the findings of its on-the-ground inspectors. Reuters GraphicsThe death of the 2020 project – and the fact it didn’t start years sooner – reflect deeper challenges at the FDIC.

☆ Analysis: Israel's tech sector reels from SVB collapse, proposed judicial reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

In an industry of around 400,000 there are currently around 6,000 vacant tech jobs, according to government data. More than half of the country's startups held an account with SVB, companies and venture capital investors said, in some cases their only U.S. banking facility although the amounts involved are not fully known. Tech companies and investors alike said SVB was a rarity in the banking industry, familiar with Israel's tech ecosystem and offering loan terms unmatched by other banks. Citing the judicial reforms, Adam Fisher, a partner at investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners, said fewer American banks may be willing to lend to Israeli companies, which means less competition and more onerous terms. Israel's tech companies are therefore likely to flock to register as U.S. companies, while keeping R&D back home, said Yaron Samid, managing partner of the TechAviv Founder Partners fund.

☆ For Regional Banks, Does More Debt Mean Fewer Problems?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Telis Demos | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Silicon Valley Bank might have benefited from more debt. A lot of discussion right now is about the bonds that American banks hold. One tidbit from lawmakers’ grilling of regulators should catch investors’ attention: a proposal to expand a requirement for issuing long-term debt. Today this debt requirement applies only to megabanks with over $700 billion in assets, the likes of JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America . Regulators are looking at expanding it to banks with over $250 billion of assets and even smaller, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

☆ Jamie Dimon is riding to the rescue again. This time, he's poised to come out on top.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Why, then, has Dimon been so willing to swing back into action in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse? But it's starting to look like JPMorgan — and Dimon — will end up winners no matter how things turn out. In backstopping First Republic, JPMorgan helps a client and a bank that experts say would fit nicely into its business. By saving First Republic, JPMorgan also stands to gain goodwill from Silicon Valley startups, which are customers of the smaller bank. The paper also reported that regulators asked Dimon, Bank of America, and other banks to buy Silicon Valley Bank and pay out depositors over the insured limit.

March 30 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) will pay fines of about $97.8 million for inadequate oversight of its compliance risks, enabling the apparent violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan, federal authorities said on Thursday. The Fed fined Wells Fargo $67.8 million, while OFAC fined the bank $30 million for inadequate oversight of its compliance risks from 2010 to 2015. “Wells Fargo is pleased to resolve this legacy matter involving conduct that ended in 2015, which we voluntarily self-reported and fully cooperated with OFAC and the Federal Reserve Board to address," a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in a statement. In a release, OFAC said that Wells Fargo and its predecessor, Wachovia Bank, provided a European bank with software beginning in 2008 that allowed the firm to process 124 transactions involving sanctioned individuals or jurisdictions. In December, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hit Wells Fargo with the watchdog's largest ever civil penalty as part of a $3.7 billion agreement to settle charges over widespread mismanagement of car loans, mortgages and bank accounts.

REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueMarch 29 (Reuters) - The scope of blame for Silicon Valley Bank's failure stretches across bank executives, Federal Reserve supervisors and other regulators, the banking system's top cop on Wednesday told U.S. lawmakers demanding answers for the lender's swift collapse. "I think that any time you have a bank failure like this, bank management clearly failed, supervisors failed and our regulatory system failed," Michael Barr, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision, told Congress. 'SOME REAL FLAWS'Barr told the House Financial Services Committee that he first became aware of stress at Silicon Valley Bank on the afternoon of March 9, but that the bank reported to supervisors that morning that deposits were stable. The Fed was in discussions with Silicon Valley Bank the day before its collapse to move pledgable collateral to the discount window, a key facility long associated with providing emergency loans to banks, Barr said on Wednesday. "(Fed) staff were working with Silicon Valley Bank basically all afternoon and evening and through the morning the next day to pledge as much collateral as humanly possible to the discount (window) on Friday," Barr said.

March 29 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve was in discussions with Silicon Valley Bank the day before its collapse to move pledgable collateral to the discount window, a key facility long associated with providing emergency loans to banks, the Fed's head of banking supervision told a Congressional committee on Wednesday. Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr said he first became aware of stress at Silicon Valley Bank on the afternoon of March 9, but that the bank reported to supervisors that morning that deposits were stable. "(Fed) staff were working with Silicon Valley Bank basically all afternoon and evening and through the morning the next day to pledge as much collateral as humanly possible to the discount (window) on Friday," Barr said to the House Financial Services Committee. Barr told the Senate Banking Committee he first became aware of the interest rate risk issues at SVB in mid-February, while Fed supervisors had been raising issues with the bank directly in months prior to that. Some Democrats have also argued a 2018 bank deregulation law is to blame.

☆ FDIC hires Newmark Group to sell billions of Signature Bank debt - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Manya Saini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The company logo for Signature Bank is displayed at a location in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., March 20, 2023. Earlier this month, state regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank, making it the third largest failure in U.S. banking history. The subsidiary, Flagstar Bank, assumed substantially all of Signature Bank's deposits, some of its loan portfolios and all 40 of its branches. On Tuesday, FDIC told Signature Bank's crypto clients they have until April 5 to close their accounts and move their money. New York's financial regulator had said earlier in March its decision to close Signature Bank had "nothing to do with crypto."

☆ FDIC hires Newmark Group to sell billions of Signature Bank debt - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The company logo for Signature Bank is displayed at a location in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., March 20, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidMarch 29 (Reuters) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) has hired Newmark Group Inc (NMRK.O) to sell about $60 billion of Signature Bank loans, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter. Earlier this month, state regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank, making it the third largest failure in U.S. banking history. On March 19, a subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp (NYCB.N) entered into an agreement with U.S. regulators to buy deposits and loans from Signature Bank. The subsidiary, Flagstar Bank, assumed substantially all of Signature Bank's deposits, some of its loan portfolios and all 40 of its branches.

"I think that any time you have a bank failure like this, bank management clearly failed, supervisors failed and our regulatory system failed," Michael Barr, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision, told Congress. REPORTS DUE MAY 1Both the Fed and FDIC are is expected to produce reports on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank by May 1. Barr told the House Financial Services Committee that he first became aware of stress at Silicon Valley Bank on the afternoon of March 9, but that the bank reported to supervisors that morning that deposits were stable. Gruenberg of the FDIC told lawmakers he also became aware of SVB's stress that Thursday evening. "(Fed) staff were working with Silicon Valley Bank basically all afternoon and evening and through the morning the next day to pledge as much collateral as humanly possible to the discount (window) on Friday," Barr said.

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - Lawmakers are expected to put top U.S. bank regulators on the defensive over the unexpected failures of regional lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank when they testify before Congress on Tuesday. Regulators have vowed to review their rules and procedures after the twin failures while insisting the overall system remains sound. Tuesday's hearing at the Senate Banking Committee will give lawmakers the chance to press watchdogs on what went wrong on their watch, and push preferred policy prescriptions. They just didn't," said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, at a banking industry conference last week. Some Democrats, including major bank critic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have also argued a 2018 bank deregulation law is to blame.

☆ Here’s why the U.S. had to sweeten terms to get the SVB sale done
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

First Citizens BancShares is acquiring $72 billion in SVB assets at a discount of $16.5 billion, or 23%, according to a Sunday release from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. But even after the deal closes, the FDIC remains on the hook to dispose of the majority of remaining SVB assets, about $90 billion, which are being kept in receivership. All told, the SVB failure will cost the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund about $20 billion, the agency said. The deal terms may be explained by tepid interest in SVB assets, according to Mark Williams, a former Federal Reserve examiner who lectures on finance at Boston University. The ongoing sales process for First Republic may have cooled interest in SVB assets, according to a person with knowledge of the process.

March 27 (Reuters) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and its flagship deposit insurance fund have been active since the Great Depression to provide an orderly resolution for failed banks and to reimburse certain customer accounts. Here's what you need to know about the fund and how it works:WHAT IS THE DEPOSIT INSURANCE FUND? The FDIC's deposit insurance fund helps to fulfill the agency's guarantee of bank deposits up to $250,000. As of the end of last year, the deposit insurance fund balance stood at $128.2 billion. The FDIC by law is required to resolve failed banks using the least costly option to minimize losses to its deposit insurance fund.

☆ White House says U.S. banking system is safe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that the U.S. banking system is safe despite stress on some institutions after two American banks collapsed, ratcheting up fears of a contagion that prompted U.S. officials to respond. "Because of the decisive actions that we have seen ... from our administration, the banking regulators and also the Treasury Department, the banking system is safe," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. Reporting by Jeff Mason; writing by Jasper Ward; Editing by Doina ChiacuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Discussions between the SEC and Coinbase broke down in recent weeks, with one source saying the two sides had moved "further apart." The crypto industry believes it operates in a regulatory gray area not governed by existing U.S. securities laws - and that new legislation is needed to regulate the industry. "But if necessary, we welcome the opportunity for Coinbase and the broader crypto community to get clarity in court." Prior to Gensler's arrival, the SEC engaged in targeted enforcement, but the Democratic chair has ratcheted up focus on crypto platforms themselves. "There couldn't be a more significant development for crypto markets and crypto investors," said Philip Moustakis, former SEC enforcement lawyer and partner with Seward and Kissel LLP in New York.

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