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1 min ago

What is Basel III endgame?

A catchphrase you'll likely hear throughout today's Senate Banking Committee hearing is "Basel III" or "Basel III endgame." But what exactly is that?

Basel III endgame is the title of a package of new banking regulations that could go into effect in the coming years. It was recently greenlighted by the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

However, the proposal — which, among other things, would increase the level of capital that banks with at least $100 billion in assets would be required to hold — has been met with significant backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as bank CEOs.

US banks deemed systemically important globally — or, colloquially, “too big to fail” — would have to set aside an additional 19% of capital on average, according to the proposal. Banks with more than $250 billion in assets that aren’t considered systemically important would see a 10% increase in the capital they’re required to hold.

If banks have to set aside more capital, that means they have fewer funds to lend out to businesses and consumers. And bank CEOs argue it would force them to charge higher interest rates on loans.

But many top financial regulators argue that having a bigger capital cushion would strengthen banks' ability during periods of financial stress where they could be more vulnerable. That, many feel, would lessen the risk that taxpayer funds would be needed to bail out banks, as was the case in the wake of the Great Recession.

Importantly, Basel III endgame has not been finalized and the standard notice-and-comment rule-making process was recently extended to January 16, 2024 from November 30.

Read more 1 hr 23 min ago

Citi CEO apologizes for illegal discrimination against Armenian Americans

Jane Fraser, chief executive officer of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on September 21, 2022. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In the remarks for the hearing on Wednesday, Citi CEO Jane Fraser publicly acknowledged for the first time a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigation alleging the bank illegally discriminated against Armenian Americans for years by singling them out on credit card applications based on their surnames.

“We are deeply sorry and apologize to the Armenian American community that we recently fell short of our fair lending expectations,” Fraser said in her prepared remarks, adding that Citi has “taken action to make things right and prevent any recurrence.”

The CFPB found that from at least 2015 through 2021, Citi “targeted” retail services credit card applicants whom employees associated with Armenian national origin.

“Citi treated Armenian Americans as criminals who were likely to commit fraud,” the CFPB alleged.

Citi applied more stringent criteria to suspected Armenian Americans’ applications, including “denying them outright,” placing blocks on the accounts and requiring additional information, according to the regulator.

The CFPB said Citi targeted applicants with last names ending in “-ian” and “-yan” as well as applicants in and around Glendale, California, which is home to a large Armenian American population.

Read more1 hr 23 min ago

BofA's CEO said consumers are pulling back

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, talks with reporters at Associated Press headquarters in New York in November 2022. Seth Wenig/AP

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan did not include his thoughts on the economic outlook in his prepared remarks. However, he said that “the way consumers are spending money is leveling out,” in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. “But all in all [consumers are in] pretty decent shape.”

He also suggested that the Federal Reserve is in the midst of pulling off a soft landing — that is, getting inflation under control without a significant spike in the unemployment rate.1 hr 23 min ago

Citi's CEO is warning about the economy

Add Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser to the growing list of bank CEOs who are warning about tough times ahead.

While Fraser doesn’t “see a drastic downturn on the horizon,” the head of the third-largest bank in the United States does see a recession coming, she said in prepared remarks released by the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday ahead of an annual hearing on Wall Street oversight on Wednesday.

That recession could result because of factors including “persistent inflation in services, rising debt [levels], a slowdown in global growth and two major conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.”

On the consumer spending side, Fraser warned lawmakers that Citi data suggests people are pulling back more. That aligns with recent government consumer spending data. At the same time, customers who fall in the lowest band of credit scores are taking on the highest levels of debt since 2019, Fraser is set to say.

Read more1 hr 23 min ago

Jamie Dimon said to be prepared for recession

From CNN's Nicole GoodkindJamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., during a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the JPMorgan Tech Stars Leadership Forum in London, UK, on October 2. Jason Alden/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Although not part of his prepared testimony for Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon issued a stark warning to Wall Street last week about the economy: Inflation could rise further and recession is not off the table.

“A lot of things out there are dangerous and inflationary. Be prepared,” he said at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York. “Interest rates may go up and that might lead to recession.”

Governments across the globe need more money, he said, to fund the green economy, remilitarize and to address energy crises — and that will all be inflationary.

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