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☆ Janet Yellen isn't 'credible' and the US won't default on its debt on June 1, Republican congressman says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Congress can't raise the debt ceiling and avoid economic crisis because Republicans want spending cuts. Janet Yellen said Treasury may not be able to delay a default past June 1. To avoid a default, Congress has to raise the debt ceiling, and Republicans won't do it unless Democrats agree to spending cuts. Janet Yellen was wrong on having interest rates too low for far too long. Asked about his alternative date, Donalds said, "Listen, I'm not the Treasury Secretary.

☆ Rep. French Hill on debt ceiling standoff: We need to stop posturing and get to dealmaking
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRep. French Hill on debt ceiling standoff: We need to stop posturing and get to dealmakingHouse Financial Services Committee vice chair Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the latest in debt ceiling negotiations, whether a bipartisan deal can be reached, and more.

Under his leadership, Morgan Stanley became a wealth management powerhouse that aims to manage $10 trillion in assets. Morgan Stanley bought money manager Eaton Vance, online broker E*Trade, and stock-plan manager Solium Capital under Gorman's leadership. He was also the key architect behind Morgan Stanley's purchase of Smith Barney, a brokerage and investment adviser, in 2009. The acquisitions have made Morgan Stanley's U.S. wealth business an "asset gathering monster," and a "killer machine," he said on an earnings conference call last month. "This structure will ensure the continued stability of Morgan Stanley, while at the same time positioning it for a decade of exciting growth under new leadership."

☆ Crypto’s biggest headwinds this year are hurting stablecoins. Here’s what investors need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Stablecoins are like cash in crypto markets: They are supposed to be pegged to the value of a stable asset, such as the U.S. dollar. Stablecoins play an important role bridging traditional and digital currencies and giving market participants access to crypto trading and protocols. For many, that makes them a proxy for the amount of fiat money entering and leaving crypto, Panigirtzoglou said. Republican negotiators walking out of the high-stakes debt ceiling talks Friday also has implications for stablecoins. Tether and Circle's USDC hold about 65% and 57%, respectively, of their stablecoin reserves in T-bills, according to the companies' attestation reports.

☆ Morning Bid: Europe has a data fest, and growth worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Vidya RanganathanTuesday's a busy day for European markets. We get preliminary growth numbers for the euro zone, inflation in Italy, jobless data for Britain and, crucially, the German economic sentiment ZEW survey. No surprises are seen in euro zone GDP data - rather, analysts assume the tepid pace seen in the fourth quarter hasn't picked up. That leaves the German ZEW survey for May in the spotlight. UK labour market data is a biggie too for sterling this week, offering insight into the headline pay growth that the hawkish Bank of England is eyeing.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Top U.S. banking regulators plan to tell lawmakers the government will be open to future bank mergers, but are committed to establishing tougher rules after recent turmoil. Barr maintained his commitment to overhauling bank rules to ensure firms do not escape stricter oversight because they are smaller or viewed as less risky. "The prudential regulation and supervision of these institutions merits additional attention, particularly with respect to capital, liquidity, and interest rate risk," he said in prepared testimony. While vowing to draft tougher rules, the agencies have also been criticized for not identifying and preventing weaknesses before the lenders failed. In prepared testimony, he said rapid interest rate increases and social media-fueled rumors drove the "unprecedented" bank run that sank his firm.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. banking regulator plans to tell lawmakers his agency is "open-minded" when it comes to potential bank mergers and would act on any proposed deal in a timely fashion. Recent turmoil has added "urgency" to the OCC's work on updating bank merger guidelines, Hsu said. Tuesday's hearing will be the first for regulators since the FDIC agreed to sell failed First Republic Bank to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) this month. Watchdogs have been under intense scrutiny after the collapses of SVB and Signature set off fears of contagion. In prepared testimony, he said rapid interest rate increases and social media-fueled rumors drove the "unprecedented" bank run that sank his firm.

☆ Stock futures are little changed as traders await Tuesday debt ceiling negotiations: Live updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on April 10, 2023 in New York City. Futures tied to the S&P 500 slipped 0.05%, while Nasdaq 100 futures inched lower by 0.08%. Investors are anxiously awaiting progress on a deal to raise the debt ceiling before June 1, which is the earliest date the Treasury Department has said the U.S. could default on its debt obligations. Biden has so far maintained that raising the debt ceiling is non-negotiable. McCarthy, however, has pushed for talks to broker a deal to raise the debt ceiling be tied to spending cuts.

☆ Dozens of Democrats defend CFPB at Supreme Court as case threatens its existence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Over 140 current and former Democratic lawmakers filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court on Monday to defend the country's leading consumer protection agency from challenges to its regulatory authority. Brown chairs the Senate Banking Committee while Waters is the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case in February, four months after a federal appeals court panel unanimously ruled that the CFPB's funding method was unconstitutional. The Biden administration appealed the 5th Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court, but a final decision could be delayed until June 2024 to hear other arguments in the case. In the brief, lawmakers said succinctly that "the judgment should be reversed."

☆ Stocks week ahead: SVB and Signature Bank execs are set to testify next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs is holding three hearings this coming week centered around the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March. ET : Greg Becker, former chief executive, Silicon Valley Bank; Scott Shay, former chairman and co-founder, Signature Bank and Eric Howell, former president, Signature Bank. ET : Mark Bialek, inspector general, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Paul Kupiec, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute and more. Since then, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have released reports detailing management missteps at SVB and Signature Bank, as well as federal regulators’ own mistakes in properly addressing red flags preceding the banks’ demises. A separate report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Friday shows that American households are becoming increasingly frugal.

[1/3] Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Martin Gruenberg testify at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the response to the recent bank failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueMay 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Banking Committee said on Tuesday it would hear from former top officials at the failed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, as well as top U.S. banking regulators at separate hearings later this month. Gregory Becker, the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, and Scott Shay and Eric Howell, former senior executives for Signature Bank, will appear on May 16. On Monday, regulators closed a third firm, First Republic, which then was sold to JP Morgan Chase. The panel will also hear from top regulators for the states of New York and California, which helped oversee the two failed firms.

☆ Lawmakers praise First Republic sale, but efforts to pass new bank rules are fizzling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Christina Wilkie | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers who sit atop key banking committees praised the federal takeover of First Republic Bank on Monday, and held up the sale of its assets to JP Morgan Chase as a successful public-private collaboration to protect the U.S. financial system. His statement contrasted from the reaction of the Senate banking committee's chairman, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. He did not directly respond to the federal intervention, choosing instead to direct his ire at the failed bank. "First Republic Bank's risky behavior, unique business model, and management failures led to significant problems, and it's clear we need stronger guardrails in place," Brown said in a statement. "We must make large banks more resilient against failure so that we protect financial stability and ensure competition in the long run."

☆ The Fed Failed but Wants More Power
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Federal Reserve Board of Governors Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in March. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Associated PressAn iron law of the modern administrative state is that the solution to regulatory failure is always to give regulators more power. That’s the key to understanding Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr ’s autopsy, released Friday, of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) failure. The report offers a token mea culpa for not having responded fast enough to troubles at the bank. But that’s mainly a deflection from the report’s main purpose, which is to protect the Fed and bolster the Biden Administration’s financial regulatory agenda.

☆ SEC looks down on UpToken, imposes crypto fines
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has fined Seattle-based Coinme and related defendants nearly $4 million for conducting an unregistered and misleading offering of a crypto asset called UpToken. The SEC said investors were led to believe Up Global would limit the supply of UpToken, while Coinme would create constant demand for UpToken to fund a bitcoin automated teller machine rewards program, helping boost UpToken's price. According to the regulator, the claims were misleading because Up Global had quietly conducted transactions that reduced Coinme's need for UpToken. It also said Up Global and Bergquist falsely told investors that the offering raised $10 million to $18.9 million despite knowing that it actually raised much less, $3.65 million. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, Coinme and Up Global will pay a combined $3.77 million, while Bergquist will pay $150,000.

☆ Exclusive: US regulators worried about uninsured deposits before March crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Douglas Gillison | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Officials had yet to do the same for regional banks, some of which had grown to considerable size and complexity, said Gruenberg. One member, Timothy Mayopoulos, who within months would quickly be named chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank after it failed in March, queried regulators about dealing with regional banks' high proportion of uninsured deposits. Banking regulators have come under criticism since March for failing to stave off the crisis triggered by a run on Silicon Valley Bank, most of whose deposit base was uninsured. The Fed and FDIC are expected to release reports on Friday on their supervision of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank. The meeting was the first since the creation of the panel more than a decade ago to consider policy responses to failures in the middle-tier of large financial institutions.

☆ New draft of House stablecoin regulation focuses on state regulators, issuers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Christina Wilkie | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The new draft bill is half the length of a previous draft and is closely tailored to focus on rules governing the registration and approval process for individual prospective stablecoin issuers. The bill contains many of the features of a version that was negotiated last year, such as the requirement that payment stablecoin issuers be approved and regulated by either a "federal payment stablecoin regulator" or "a registered State qualified payment stablecoin issuer." For example, it softens prior language that required payment stablecoin issuers to honor all requests to redeem stablecoins for cash within "one day" after the request was made. The new language says issuers must "establish procedures for timely redemption of outstanding payment stablecoins." The bill further provides states with more time to investigate and resolve potential noncompliance issues that arise with those states' approved issuers.

☆ 'Crypto is dead in America,' says longtime bitcoin bull Chamath Palihapitiya
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"Crypto is dead in America," Palihapitiya said in the latest episode of the All-In podcast. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has said crypto trading platforms should abide by strict U.S. securities laws. "You had Gensler even blaming the banking crisis on crypto," Palihapitiya said. The SEC has ramped up its enforcement of the crypto industry, bearing down on companies and projects that the regulator alleges were selling unregistered securities. In early 2021, Palihapitiya predicted on CNBC that bitcoin would rise from $39,000 at the time to $100,000 and then up to $200,000.

☆ 'Crypto is dead in America' as US regulators target the sector for threatening the establishment, Chamath Palihapitiya says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Crypto is paying the price for challenging the establishment, Chamath Palihapitiya said. "Crypto is dead in America," the so-called SPAC King said recently on the All-In podcast. "Crypto is dead in America," Palihapitiya said. Recent examples of the SEC's enforcement efforts include a February proposal to stop investment advisors from trading in crypto, and the threat of legal action against a number of Coinbase products. Meanwhile, Palihapitiya also lamented the SEC's enforcement rationale, claiming that it is excessively targeting a company that has a history of being regulation-friendly.

☆ Goldman Sachs' David Solomon had the right idea. But that's only half the problem.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

David Solomon at Goldman's 2023 investor day Screenshots by Emmalyse Brownstein and Dakin Campbell1. Goldman Sachs' $12.2 billion in revenue from Q1 fell short of analysts' estimates, which is never a good sign — but it's not a complete disaster. As Insider's Carter Johnson reported, there is a case to be made for a turnaround at Goldman led by its embattled CEO David Solomon. We've written a lot about the struggles at Goldman Sachs recently, and rightfully so. More on what David Solomon needs to do to get Goldman Sachs back on track.

☆ Bitcoin and ether fall as investors weigh persistent inflation and rising interest rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Bitcoin has been closely correlated with stock indexes, in particular the Nasdaq, which rose on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 0.75 percentage point. The price of bitcoin was last lower by about 3% and trading at $29,202.54, while ether fell 5% to $1,977.28. Bitcoin slid toward $29,000 on Wednesday as traders mulled over the likelihood that Federal Reserve rate cuts may be further away than they thought. Meanwhile in the U.S., Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Tuesday that he anticipates one more 25 basis point interest rate increase and then a hold "for quite some time." "It is hard to trust any crypto rally with the state of market liquidity, so a sharp drop towards the downside is hardly a surprise."

SEC Chair Gary Gensler was testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee for the first time since Republicans took over the House of Representatives in January. Gensler, who has helmed the SEC since April 2021, underscored the agency's rulemaking as "grounded in legal authorities granted by Congress." The SEC also levied record penalties in the last fiscal year and Republican lawmakers seized on the agency's nearly 50 enforcement actions against crypto firms, saying the agency was regulating by enforcement. Gensler maintained most cryptocurrencies are securities and crypto firms must comply with securities laws. Progressive lawmakers and investor advocates have praised the SEC and pushed Congress to give the agency more resources.

☆ SEC's Gensler in congressional hot seat today over climate change and crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning. That's because SEC Chair Gary Gensler has aroused the ire of many in corporate America over his 50+ list of new regulatory proposals the SEC is scheduled to vote on this year. "Chair Gensler has identified a range of 50-55 regulatory priorities since the start of his tenure, and has already proposed twice as many rules as his predecessor in just half the time." "The vast majority of crypto tokens are securities," Gensler declared in his written testimony to the House Financial Services Committee. "SEC Chair Gensler is long overdue to testify before the House Financial Services Committee," Rep. French Hill (R.-Ark), Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement released to CNBC.

WASHINGTON — The top Democrat in the House slammed Republicans' plan to pass a bill later this month to suspend the debt ceiling for a year and impose broad federal spending cuts, rather than simply raise the $31.4 trillion limit and avoid any risk of potential U.S. debt default. "Even the flirtation with the default is going to hurt everyday Americans," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "It risks raising car payments, it risks raising home mortgage payments, it risks raising student loan debt payments," he said. The New York Democrat said refusing to raise the debt ceiling for the first time in history would have "catastrophic" consequences. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler echoed Jeffries' concerns Tuesday, telling lawmakers that the debt ceiling fight has already affected the markets.

WASHINGTON — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler faced a barrage of criticism from House Republicans on Tuesday over his agency's crackdown on cryptocurrency trading platforms. In more than four hours of testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Gensler stood firm on his view that crypto trading platforms and exchanges should abide by strict U.S. securities laws. "All of these companies should come into compliance with the law, and until they do, we will continue to pursue them as the cop on the beat, and investigate and follow the facts and law," Gensler told the panel. Gensler, however, rejected the notion that crypto trading platforms don't know how to interpret U.S. securities laws. Facing the House committee on Tuesday, Gensler showed little sympathy for the challenges faced by crypto exchanges operating in the U.S."We have a clear regulatory framework built up over 90 years," he said.

☆ Rep. Katie Porter recounts her frustration at having to explain housing policy to onetime HUD secretary Ben Carson during a congressional hearing: 'I was tutoring a neurosurgeon'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Katie Porter detailed an odd 2019 exchange she had with Ben Carson over housing policy. Carson was unaware of the term REO and thought she said Oreo, as in the cookie sandwich. But Carson thought she was talking about a cookie — an Oreo to be specific. Porter detailed how she asked Carson if he knew the meaning of an REO during the hearing. "Secretary Ben Carson, the man in charge of housing for our nation, asked me if I meant 'Oreo.'

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