Search Results for: JPMorgan

By Pam Martens: February 6, 2013  The Wall Street cartel that has for decades kidnapped the process of nominating anyone who has anything to do with money and high office in the United States (Federal Reserve Chair, New York Fed President, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or its General Counsel) has a powerful spin machine running full throttle to secure the confirmation of Mary Jo White to head the SEC.  Take the headlines and story threads that have been regurgitated throughout the business media since President Obama nominated White on January 24. The spin goes like this: she’s a former Federal prosecutor and she’s tough. Here’s how the widely circulated story by the Associated Press framed the nomination in its lead paragraph:  “President Barack Obama sent his strongest signal yet Thursday that he wants the government to get tougher with Wall Street, appointing a former … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: February 4, 2013  The U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer,George Osborne, plans to reform big banks in his country the way farmers keep raccoons out of their corn fields: an electrical fence. Banking reform by soap box and silly ideas has crossed the Atlantic. Osborne delivered a flurry of inspirational words today on his new plans for banking reform in the U.K. Curiously, he delivered his speech at JPMorgan’s back office operation in Bournemouth. Osborne said the site location was to remind everyone how many jobs banking brings to England and specifically mentioned a landscaping business called Stewarts that takes care of JPMorgan’s grounds that he planned to visit later. That was possibly not the best choice of examples since wealth and income inequality has been institutionalized by the lack of banking reform. On this side of the pond the suspicion rises that Chancellor Osborne’s site selection might … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: January 21, 2013  This month, U.S. Senators David Vitter (R-La.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking the federal watchdog agency to research and report on the economic subsidy that too-big-to-fail banks receive as a result of actual or perceived taxpayer support. Last week, Richard Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, delivered a speech on the same topic.  While the points made by these gentlemen are both valid and critically important, they fail to take note of four other dangerous subsidies: (1) the market perception that the Washington and Wall Street revolving door has rendered these firms immune from prosecution – even for repeated, illegal cartel behavior;  (2) the ability to spend billions buying back their own stock, effectively propping up their own share price and bad behavior; (3) self-regulation with compromised bodies creating the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: January 10, 2013  As expected, shortly after 1:30 today the President appeared at a press conference to nominate his Chief of Staff and former budget director, Jacob (Jack) Lew as U.S. Treasury Secretary.  Lew will face a Senate Confirmation process before he can assume the post. Outgoing Treasury Secretary, Timothy (Tim) Geithner, was present for the nomination and was lavishly praised by the President.  The President’s remarks revealed no hint that the U.S. Treasury, which auctions the government’s U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds through Wall Street firms, is dealing with one of the most intractable periods of corruption on Wall Street this nation has ever witnessed. As one of numerous examples coming to light of continuing frauds, a global cartel of banks, including at least two of Wall Street’s largest banks according to affidavits, have fleeced cities and municipalities across the country by rigging the benchmark … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: January 8, 2013  Monday was settlement day on Wall Street.  The four largest Wall Street banks and a handful of smaller ones tossed $20 billion at their various regulators and slid home free without going to jail over egregious foreclosure abuses that have ravaged the nation and left millions of families in desperate straits.  News of big settlements with Wall Street are typically dumped on Friday to ensure the news is old hat by Monday morning.  But these two big settlements, totaling over $20 billion, came at the beginning of the news week, adding the curiosity element as to why Wall Street actually wanted to create buzz around the settlements.  It didn’t take long to figure that out: the buzz was to help prop up bank shares on the premise that the worst of the past misdeeds are now behind the banks. The regulators eagerly boarded this … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: January 7, 2013 The insipid regulators of Wall Street’s biggest and most dangerous banks are recklessly caving in to outrageous demands to roll back or water down protections designed to prevent another 2008-style financial collapse.  And the cave-ins are happening in some of the most critical areas of promised financial reform. The latest Wall Street giveaway was announced this past Sunday evening when Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, announced that the new global banking rules on capital adequacy and liquidity, known as Basel III, will not go into effect in January 2015 as promised, but will be phased in over four years and not become fully effective until January 1, 2019.  In addition, the rules themselves have been watered down to allow more risky assets, like mortgage backed securities — which caused many of the problems in 2008 — to count toward emergency liquidity requirements rather … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: December 19, 2012  UBS, the global banking behemoth based in Switzerland, has agreed to settle charges over rigging the international interest rate benchmark known as Libor with U.K., U.S. and Swiss authorities.  The total settlement with all regulators will total approximately $1.5 billion.  Later this morning, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which levied the bulk of the fines, will announce their findings.  The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) earlier today revealed the details of an expansive conspiracy to rig rates that involved traders, managers, chat rooms, standing orders, at least 2,000 documented efforts to rig rates, and bribes and payoffs to other brokers.  According to the FSA:  UBS, through four of its traders, colluded with interdealer brokers to attempt to influence the Japanese Libor submissions of other banks. The brokers were in regular contact with various panel banks that contributed Japanese Libor … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: December 18, 2012  At 9:30 a.m. this morning, the Senate Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment will hold a hearing on stock market structure, titled: “Computerized Trading Venues: What Should the Rules of the Road Be?”  One of the individuals testifying will be Dan Mathisson, head of U.S. Equity Trading for Credit Suisse.  Mathisson is an influential voice, writing a column for Traders Magazine and cited by Advanced Trading magazine for creating the modern algorithmic trading desk.  According to his prepared written testimony, Mathisson plans to give the Senators an earful on why stock exchanges should be stripped of their status as SROs – Self Regulatory Organizations.  Credit Suisse, for whom Mathisson works, is subject to regulation by the SROs, as are all other broker dealers who are members of exchanges, such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, etc.  Increasingly, the broker dealers see themselves … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: November 4, 2012  On December 23 of this year, the Federal Reserve will be 99 years old.  And throughout that 99 years, regardless of boom, bust, recession or Great Depression, the biggest Wall Street banks have been enjoying a 6 percent, risk-free return on the capital they hold at the Fed in the form of dividends.  Have you looked at your checking or money market bank statement lately from JPMorgan Chase or Citibank? How about the statement showing the interest you’re earning on your mortgage escrow account with the big banks? While the country suffers through the lingering effects of the Great Recession caused by the biggest Wall Street banks, the public typically receives less than 1 percent on their deposits at the big banks, while the government has legislated a permanent, risk-free 6 percent guarantee to the Wall Street banks for their capital on deposit at … Continue reading →