Royal Bank of Scotland Prepares to Be Fined 10s of Millions Pounds Over IT Breakdown.

Posted by BankInfo on Mon, Nov 17 2014 11:44 am

Royal Bank of Scotland faces a fine of tens of millions of pounds as early as this week over the collapse of its IT systems that locked millions of consumers out of their accounts for days.

The bank, which is 81Percent-taxpayer owned, is supported for a penalty from the Financial Conduct Authority for the extraordinary systems meltdown in 2012, which also impacted consumers of its NatWest & Ulster Bank brands.

The charge will be a more blow to RBS's reputation, which took a renewed battering last week over the bank's involvement in manipulating the £3.5tn-a-day currency markets. RBS paid £400m to the FCA & a United States regulator over a failure of interior controls which allowed traders to act together to move currency prices for profit. It was among 6 banks which were fined £2.6 bn by regulators.

The scale of the penalty for IT failings will be much less but will certainly revive memories of the chaos caused by the IT outage & leave RBS open to allegations of inexperience. 

Ireland's central bank recently fined RBS £2.7 m for the fiasco, which hit Ulster Bank particularly hard, leaving some consumers without banking services for almost a month.

Neither Royal Bank of Scotland neither the FCA would comment on the current potential fine, but the bank said last month that the regulatory authority had started 'Enforcement Proceedings' in regard to its investigation, which started in April 2013.

In 2012, RBS deposited £175m to compensate customers and also has not quantified the fine it expects to receive from the FCA.

Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (DB) To Sell Commercial Property Loans Worth $2 Billion To TPG Capital.

Posted by BankInfo on Sat, Nov 15 2014 01:53 pm

Deutsche Banking AG (UNITED STATE) (NYSE: DB) has actually revealed plans to sell off commercial property loans worth $2 billion to an international private investment people , called TPG Capital.

 According to people familiar about the matter, the expanding real estate market of the US has instigated this deal. Hence, the deal will be extremely profitable for the Frankfurt-based bank.

It was additionally disclosed that the arrangement waits for regulatory authorization, which could be come in any time before the end of this month. Also, Deutsche bank owns a smaller sized share of the loan collection compared to TPG. 

The portfolio comprises of different financial instruments such as home loans for large shopping centers & corporate complexes originated by the German bank & public debt.

Deutsche Bank has actually undertaken this deal to improve the outlook of its financial statements in lieu of a stricter regulatory environment. The bank plans to dispose risk-weighted assets amounting to EUR250 billion ($313 billion) by the end of 2015. Since September 30, four-fifth of this figure, which amounts to nearly EUR200 billion, had already been taken care of. 

The US commercial real estate market has been on the increase. Throughout the third quarter, financial organizations provided out a total of $28 billion as Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS). Data assembled by Commercial Mortgage Warning shows that this quarter has damaged many records set in previous quarters after the real estate market accident in 2007.

One of the bank officials said in May that the bank is set to rank amongst the leading 4 lenders dealing in securities of the international commercial estate market. He also said that to improve the crumbled housing market, the bank will continue investing.

Private investment firms are moving toward the flourishing real-estate financing business. They are acquiring funds from investors who are bullish on this market. TPG Capital which specializes in tailored re-capitalizations & leveraged buyouts has gone one step ahead. The firm is gathering property dealers which help buyers & sellers, and landlords and tenants to associate with each other.

Last week, TPG took over a property brokerage firm based in Chicago, called DTZ, which has annual profits of 1.9 billion on average. By paying $1.05 billion, TPG obtained the company's 209 offices in 52 countries. TPG seeks for to merge DTZ with another Washington-based estate brokerage firm, called Cassidy Turley. The deal, worth $600 million, is scheduled to be finalized by the year-end. 

In September, TPG Capital Managing Partner Asia, Ben Gray, said in an interview: 'Cassidy Turley is a leading real estate services business in the US & will certainly match DTZ's existing very strong businesses in Asia & Europe along with DTZ's existing United States businesses'.

Additionally, globalization has actually had a serious impact on the housing industry, specifically on the volume of its mergers and purchases activities. With private-equity & investment company expanding their procedures in the worldwide markets, the need to partner with globally-established and well-heeled real-estate brokerage firms has actually increased simultaneously. Companies are looking for branded property dealers that will help them cope with the ups and downs of a new market.

The TPG-Deutsche loan collection is being looked after by the bank's global head of commercial real estate & head of risk for structured finance, Jonathan Pollack. He is a 'Super Star' of the commercial property business. In addition, he is the one who helped initiate Deutsche's commercial real estate procedures in Europe & managed the Bank's European CMBS trading desk.

US Bank Names New President for Northern California.

Posted by BankInfo on Tue, Nov 11 2014 04:27 pm

US Bank recently called Liesl Schmidt local president for US Bank in Northern California. Schmidt, which was recently commercial banking manager for U.S. Bank in the region, succeeds Evelyn Jacobs, who retired recently. Lisa Trombley was named Schmidt's successor, according to a press release.

As regional president for Northern California, Schmidt oversees commercial banking and also US Bank's 23 branches in Humboldt, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Shasta, Tehama and also Yuba-Sutter counties.

Schmidt graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from the University of Maryland in College Park. She works at the U.S. Bank office positioned at 1700 Pine St. in downtown Redding, and also maintains a 2nd office at the Yuba City branch situated at 903 Colusa Ave., according to the release.

In Gazprom Deal, JPMorgan Takes on Business That Some Bank’s Fear.

Posted by BankInfo on Mon, Nov 10 2014 10:43 am

When JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) consented to lead a $700 million [441.03 million pound] bond offering for Russian gas manufacturer Gazprom OAO, (GAZP.MM) it was doing business that some U.S. banks are afraid to do, several lawyers and also a banker said.

Gazprom faces U.S. sanctions after the united state federal government widened its restrictions against Russia in September. U.S. companies are restricted from offering goods or modern technology to Gazprom & others, although they could offer economic services to the companies, meaning JPMorgan obeyed with the law in underwriting bonds for the company. Gazprom announced pricing for the deal on Thursday.

Peter Kucik, a former U.S. Treasury official who left the division in March, said generally short-term transactions, such as underwriting bonds, should not be a problem. However he said U.S. companies need to make sure in conducting long-term business with Russian companies or Bank’s, because sanctions could possibly consistently get tougher in the future.

Some U.S. bankers would hesitate to do this business, fearing that also if it is legal, it will certainly look bad to regulators.

'Our relationship with regulatory authorities is so vital. We would not would like to make them mad,' said a capital markets banker at a competing firm. 'No one would certainly touch it with a 10-foot pole right here'.

Some banks' resistance to underwrite these sorts of bonds underscores the frostiness in relations between bank’s & their regulatory since the financial situation. Big banks globally face much tighter restrictions on their activity after the financial crisis of 2008 and have paid tens of billions of dollars in greats for violations over the past few years.

One lawyer who works extensively with sanctions issues said his clients are 'Skittish' & are reluctant to expend the effort to determine whether, as an example, underwriting bonds for Gazprom's would certainly be legal.

'They simply will not do business with the entities that are provided in those sanctions, also if it is legal,' the lawyer said.

It is unclear specifically just what JPMorgan did in this case, yet the bank usually checks in with regulators in advance of potentially sensitive assignments, such as through a phone call seeking an unofficial consent, a person acquainted with the issue said.

Doing the deal could help JPMorgan cement its connection with Gazprom, a company that the bank has collaborated with extensively in the past.

The U.S. sanctions against Russia are suggested to be surgical, focusing on particular people, sectors, and businesses, lawyers which deal with the sanctions said.

Bank of America Cuts Earnings Amidst Foreign Exchange Talks.

Posted by BankInfo on Mon, Nov 10 2014 10:39 am

Bank of America (BAC) is nearing a possible deal with U.S. financial regulatory authorities to settle an investigation of believed foreign exchange currency market adjustment by the nation's biggest bank.

In the weeks considering that its 3rd-quarter earnings announcement in October, Bank of America announced Thursday it 'Has actually been taken part in separate advanced discussions with specific US banking regulatory agencies to fix issues connected with its foreign exchange business'.

The disclosure, issued after financial markets closed, said the bank elevated its legal reserves to fund the prospective settlement. As a result,'The company recorded a $400 million non-deductible fee and also adjusted its 3rd-quarter 2014 financial results to a net loss of $232 million,' comparable to a 4 cent loss on a per-share basis, the banking said.

While disclosing the agreements, the Charlotte, N.C., bank cautioned 'There can be no guarantee about the ultimate outcome of these matters'.

Bank of America shares were down fractionally at $17.26 in after-hours trading after shutting slightly higher at $17.36 in typical Thursday trading.

The statement represents the most up to date signal of a quickening pace to examinations of the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange currency trading market by authorities in the United State and Europe. The probes of the traditionally unregulated market focus on approximately a dozen global banks, several of which have fired or placed on leave traders associated with their foreign currency businesses.

Since mid-2013, investigators have been analyzing thought proof that bank traders manipulated rates for 160 world currencies that have actually been calculated & distributed by a joint venture of the WM Co. and Thomson Reuters.

U.S. investigators pursuing the case include the Division of Justice, the Federal Reserve, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission & the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Great Britain's Financial Conduct Authority & various other European authorities & regulators similarly are penetrating evidence of suspected foreign exchange currency trading abuses.

Bank of America did not name the U.S. regulators associated with the negotiations. Nevertheless, The New York Times identified the companies as the Federal Reserve & Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, citing info from people oriented on the investigation.

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