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The walls are closing in around crypto. Regulators hadn’t taken action against many of the industry’s biggest players, but are now cutting off access to products and services central to the digital-currency business. On Monday, New York regulators shut down new issuance of the world’s third-largest stablecoin, BUSD, prompting investors to flee the coin and raising worries about the future of crypto exchange giant Binance, which gives the coin the “B” in its name.

When Jean Chalopin applied to buy a tiny bank in Washington state nearly three years ago, he made modest promises to bring not-so-new innovations such as ATM cards to a place with few local banking options. Farmington State Bank’s business plan wouldn’t change, Mr. Chalopin, a one-time TV and film producer who co-created the “Inspector Gadget” cartoon, assured federal regulators in documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Bankers, Executives Pay Up for Wall Street Texting Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Josh Mitchell | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Morgan Stanley has imposed individual fines of more than $1 million on some of its bankers. Wall Street bankers and executives are getting their pay docked for using text messaging apps that circumvented record-keeping rules and led to hefty fines for the banks. Morgan Stanley has imposed individual fines of more than $1 million on some of its bankers for their role in the matter, a person familiar with the bank said. In late 2021, JPMorgan Chase & Co. had reduced the pay of several members of its top leadership team over the issue, a person familiar with JPMorgan said.

☆ Federal Reserve Probes Goldman’s Consumer Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Annamaria Andriotis | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Federal Reserve is investigating Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s consumer business to determine whether the bank had appropriate safeguards in place as it ramped up lending, according to people familiar with the matter. The regulator has concerns that the bank didn’t have proper monitoring and control systems inside the consumer business, known as Marcus, especially as it grew larger, the people said.

☆ Federal Reserve Probes Goldman Consumer Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Annamaria Andriotis | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Gets $34.5 Million for 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

JPMorgan Chase & Co. awarded Jamie Dimon $34.5 million for his 2022 compensation, the bank disclosed Thursday. Mr. Dimon had received $34.5 million for his 2021 work, along with a $50 million retention bonus that he could earn for staying in his seat at the head of the nation’s biggest bank. Mr. Dimon, 66 years old, has led the bank since 2005 and is widely expected to hang around for at least the roughly four more years that would earn him the bonus.

The nation’s largest banks said rising interest rates are likely to push the U.S. into a recession this year, though they are only starting to feel the effects in their quarterly earnings. The four largest commercial banks reported mixed fourth-quarter results on Friday. Lending grew more profitable and consumers continued to spend on credit cards, but the banks collectively stowed away $2.8 billion in the final three months of 2022 to cover potential loan losses. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set aside nearly half of it.

☆ JPMorgan Gets a Lift From Interest Rates But Warns of Mild Recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Friday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 6%, boosted by rising interest rates that sent its core lending income to a record high. The bank posted net income of $11 billion, or $3.57 per share, up from $10.4 billion, or $3.33 a share, a year ago. That beat the $3.08 per share expected by analysts.

☆ JPMorgan Bought College Financial-Aid Platform for $175 Million—and Now Says Most of Its Users Were Fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Melissa Korn | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is suing the leaders of Frank, a financial-aid business it bought for $175 million in 2021, alleging they duped the bank by making up millions of fake student accounts to show it had a growing business. The bank filed a lawsuit late last month in a Delaware federal court against Frank executives Charlie Javice and Olivier Amar , alleging widespread fraud at a company that is marketed as helping families navigate the complex college financial-aid process. Frank offered a tool to simplify federal financial-aid forms, as well as listings of scholarships and low-cost college courses.

☆ Silvergate Raced to Cover $8.1 Billion in Withdrawals During Crypto Meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The collapse of crypto exchange FTX sparked a run on Silvergate Capital Corp., forcing the bank to sell assets at a steep loss to cover some $8.1 billion in withdrawals. Crypto-related deposits plunged 68% in the fourth quarter, the bank said in an early release of some quarterly results. To satisfy the withdrawals, Silvergate liquidated debt it was holding on its balance sheet. The $718 million it lost selling the debt far exceeds the bank’s total profits since at least 2013.

☆ Wall Street’s Bankers Brace for Big Pay Cuts, but Bosses Don’t Want Whining
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( David Benoit | Annamaria Andriotis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wall Street’s banking revenue has never fallen harder than it has this year. Bankers are hoping their bonuses can hang on a bit better. Fees from advising on deals, stock offerings and bond sales are down more than 40% from this time last year, wiping out more than $50 billion in revenue, according to data from Dealogic. That is the biggest year-over-year dollar decline on record, worse even than in the financial crisis.

☆ How 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' became a holiday music hit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —The familiar tunes of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” transport us. In 1965, when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” first aired, Christmas jazz wasn’t exactly a thing. The musical formula they created didn’t just make “A Charlie Brown Christmas” an instant hit. “Bossa nova was one of the things that helped smooth its way to popularity.”A still from 1965's "A Charlie Brown Christmas." A woman listens to music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on her phone in 2013.

☆ Lawmakers Want Answers From Silvergate About FTX Transfers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lawmakers are demanding information from Silvergate Capital Corp. about transfers of customer funds between Sam Bankman-Fried ‘s collapsed trading firm, Alameda Research, and his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. In a letter to the bank Monday, Republican Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana and Roger Marshall of Kansas, along with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said an Alameda depository account at Silvergate “appears to be at the center” of the transfer of FTX customer funds to the trading firm. Failure to detect this “scheme,” the senators said, could mean the bank broke anti-money-laundering laws.

☆ JPMorgan, Other Banks in Talks to Reimburse Scammed Zelle Customers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( David Benoit | Annamaria Andriotis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Banks that own the Zelle payment network want to boost security as scams dupe customers into transferring money. Some of America’s biggest banks are devising a plan to compensate customers who fall victim to scams on their Zelle payment network. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are among the banks in advanced discussions to create a playbook for refunding customers and each other for illegitimate transfers, according to people familiar with the matter. The idea is to boost security and consumer trust in Zelle, the peer-to-peer payment system jointly owned by a consortium of banks, the people said.

☆ Jeffrey Epstein Accusers Sue Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Deutsche Bank was fined by New York state’s financial regulator in 2020 for failing to properly monitor its dealings with Jeffrey Epstein and other lapses. Women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse are suing Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., saying the banks facilitated Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking operation and ignored red flags about their wealthy client. The two lawsuits seek class-action status and unspecified financial damages. They were both brought by lawyers that have represented many of the late financier’s accusers. The suits were filed in federal court in New York on Thursday.

☆ Jeffrey Epstein Accusers Sue Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Crypto Bank Silvergate Battles FTX Contagion Fears
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Earlier this month, Silvergate Capital Corp. gathered its staff to celebrate its transformation into the go-to bank for the crypto market. Then, the crypto market blew up. The collapse of crypto exchange FTX has raised questions about how close the bank was to the empire of Sam Bankman-Fried . The price of Silvergate’s stock has been cut in half this month and is now down nearly 90% over the past year.

☆ JPMorgan Trying to Expand Minority Small-Business Lending
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( David Benoit | Photographs Brandon Thibodeaux For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HOUSTON— JPMorgan Chase & Co. is launching a national program to try to get more loans into the hands of minority small-businesses owners and close a persistent racial gap in financing. The country’s biggest bank has been quietly piloting a special-purpose credit program this year here and in Dallas, Detroit and Miami that allows it to offer more loans to business owners who might have otherwise been rejected.

☆ Rising Rates Help Some Banks More Than Others
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rising interest rates were supposed to help Silicon Valley Bank. Instead, it got hurt. The largest banks in the country posted higher lending profits in the third quarter and predicted more gains to come thanks to the Federal Reserve’s recent rate moves. Silicon Valley Bank, which caters to technology and life-science companies, especially startups, posted some of the slimmest gains and warned that its margins had already peaked.

☆ Big Banks and U.N. Green Finance Group Clash in Alliance
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( David Benoit | Amrith Ramkumar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An uprising by banks in a United Nations -sponsored climate coalition has been quelled but opened wounds that could weaken an alliance meant to funnel trillions of dollars to fund the transition away from fossil fuels. Getting banks to sign on to the coalition was a marquee achievement of the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow. Since then, fuel shortages and pressure from politicians and regulators led banks to push back against what they thought were tighter rules.

☆ JPMorgan Investment Banking Chair Carlos Hernandez to Retire
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive Carlos Hernandez, the leader of the bank’s investment banking staff and a member of Jamie Dimon ’s inner management circle, will retire next year. The 36-year veteran of JPMorgan has been a counselor to major executives and world leaders and a close ally to Mr. Dimon. He plans to retire at the end of the first quarter next year, according to an internal memo Monday from Mr. Dimon and Daniel Pinto , the president and head of the corporate investment bank.

The nation’s largest banks are nervous about a recession, but their third-quarter earnings showed few signs of one yet. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup all said Friday they had socked away hundreds of millions of dollars apiece to cover potential loan defaults, dragging down their profits. Still, revenue rose at all three banks and beat analyst forecasts.

☆ JPMorgan Chase’s Third-Quarter Profit Drops 17% on Recession Planning
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s third-quarter earnings dropped 17% as the bank built up its defenses for a potential recession and took a nearly $1 billion loss on securities it held. The nation’s biggest bank’s revenue rose 10% to $32.72 billion thanks to higher interest rates, strong Wall Street trading performance and continued consumer spending. Analysts had expected $32.12 billion, according to FactSet.

☆ JPMorgan Profit Falls On Investment Loss and Recession Planning
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s third-quarter profit dropped 17% as the bank built up its defenses for a potential recession and took a nearly $1 billion loss on securities it held. The nation’s biggest bank’s revenue rose 10% to $32.72 billion thanks to higher interest rates, strong Wall Street trading performance and continued consumer spending. Analysts had expected $32.12 billion, according to FactSet.

Pro Cyber NewsToo many small and medium-size businesses rely on usernames and passwords alone to secure their systems, leaving them vulnerable to cyberattacks that could otherwise be prevented, government officials and cybersecurity chiefs say.

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