It sounds like a victory for credit card users — a rule that would require banks to review any interest rate hikes every six months, and lower rates when appropriate.
Yet loopholes in the Federal Reserve’s latest proposal could let banks avoid rolling back rates in most cases.
To start, the proposal issued Wednesday wouldn’t require banks [...]
Posts Tagged ‘banks’
Lower interest rates? Not in the (credit) cards
March 5th, 2010 by Financial Writer
Tags: american bankers, banks, credit card users, credit cards, interest rate, lower interest rates
more...UBS makes Q4 profit, but withdrawals continue
February 9th, 2010 by Financial Writer
Swiss bank UBS AG posted a fourth-quarter profit of 1.205 billion Swiss francs ($1.12 billion) Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations partly thanks to a tax credit, but said rich clients’ withdrawals had continued.
The result is a significant swing from last year, when the bank reported a net loss of 9.58 billion francs in the fourth quarter. [...]
Tags: banks, future business, new money, q4, ubs, us tax
Obama budget: Record spending, record deficit
February 2nd, 2010 by Financial Writer
Spelling out painful priorities, President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to quickly approve a huge new shot of spending for recession relief and job creation, part of a record $3.8 trillion budget that would boost the deficit beyond any in the nation’s history while only slowly beginning to put Americans back to work.
If Congress [...]
Tags: banks, barack obama, recession, record deficit, record spending, unemployment
US economic rescue failing to meet key goals:auditor
January 31st, 2010 by Financial Writer
The 700-billion-dollar US government effort to rescue the financial system has failed to meet key goals such as sparking lending and curbing risky activities by banks, a special auditor said Sunday.
The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a report to Congress that it is too soon to measure the overall [...]
Tags: auditor, banks, financial crisis, financial system, lending, us businesses, us economic, us government
AIG’s bailout disclosure surprised NY Fed
January 23rd, 2010 by Financial Writer
New York Federal Reserve officials debated in November 2008 whether the terms of the bailout of American International Group (AIG.N) could be kept secret from the public and whether securities regulators would even permit it to do so, according to emails obtained by Reuters on Friday.
The emails, given to Capitol Hill lawmakers by the New [...]
Tags: AIG, banks, deutsche bank, Federal Reserve, subprime mortgages
Banks earn $2.8B in 3Q; insurance fund in the red
November 24th, 2009 by Financial Writer
The apparent end of the recession and stabilizing financial markets have not cured the banking industry, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday.
Banks earned $2.8 billion in the third quarter, but loan balances plummeted and the fund that insures their deposits was $8.2 billion in the red. Souring loans continued to hurt bank balance sheets, [...]
Tags: banking industry, banks, fdic, financial markets, loans outstanding, recession
Banks, policymakers spar over new rules
November 17th, 2009 by Financial Writer
Big banks stepped up warnings on Tuesday that tightening capital rules too soon could stall economic recovery, but policymakers said the bailed out sector cannot rely on taxpayers again in future.
Regulators are drafting tough rules that will force banks to hold far more capital and lessen the need for the kind of public rescues seen [...]
Tags: banks, big banks, economic recovery, g20, HSBC, investors
Fed says banks eye tighter terms on credit cards
November 9th, 2009 by Financial Writer
Banks expect to tighten terms on credit cards in response to a new law that aims to protect consumers from sudden rate hikes, the Federal Reserve said Monday.
A quarterly survey by the Fed found that many banks expect to increase rates, reduce credit limits and raise annual fees for both prime borrowers — those with [...]
Tags: banks, borrowers, credit cards, economic recovery, Federal Reserve, increase rates
World stocks slip ahead of earnings
October 14th, 2009 by Financial Writer
World stocks fell from this week’s one-year high on Tuesday as investors grew cautious ahead of major third-quarter U.S. corporate earnings, while risk-hungry investors drove the Australian dollar to a 14-month peak.
Key results due this week include Intel (INTC.L), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and General Electric (GE.N). Intel is expected to beat forecasts with its results [...]
Tags: banks, investment, investors, money
Economy recovering, Geithner says, but fixes are needed
September 23rd, 2009 by Financial Writer
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the nation is moving toward economic recovery but that the regulatory system is broken and must be fixed.
In remarks prepared for a House hearing on Wednesday, Geithner says Congress must pass legislation that would require new protections for consumers, create a more stable system and protect taxpayers from bearing the [...]
Tags: banks, economic, economic recovery, economy, financial crisis