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Earlier we pointed out that mortgage origination at Wells Fargo - the bank's bread and butter - is crashing at an unprecedented pace, and as per the conference call, Q1 isn't looking any better. Naturally, it stood to reason that the bank would seek alternative business and product lines to supplant the declining revenue it used to generate when it would originate some $100 billion in mortgages every quarter, now half that number. However, not even in our wildest dreams did we predict just what this "alternative" product would be. Because, as the FT reports, Wells Fargo, the largest US...

The world's two largest custody banks, BNY Mellon Corp and State Street Corp, are loading up on engineers to crunch mountains of data into juicy chunks of information that they can use to win more customers and generate more fees. The shift in hiring strategy comes as the cost of computing power, data storage and bandwidth plunges, giving the U.S. banks more opportunities to capitalize on information about customers that include the world's largest hedge, mutual and pension funds. "At State Street this year, we've hired more engineers than MBAs," said John Klinck, the bank's head of global strategy and...

the bogey man known as “systemic risk” to gain advantage over the other creditors . ... In order for the OTC casino to work, the derivatives contracts had to be given special priority in bankruptcy. Speculative derivative instruments such as credit default swaps (CDS), which caused the failure and government bailout of American International Group, could never exist in significant size were in not for the safe harbor from bankruptcy for derivatives created by Congress in the 1980s and 1990s. Members of Congress from both parties were paid very well for their treachery. ... The intellectual author of the “systemic...

Payment card data was stolen from an unknown number of Target Corp customers starting on the busy Black Friday weekend in a major breach at the U.S. retailer, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Secret Service is investigating, according to a spokesman for the agency, which safeguards the nation's payment systems. Target officials did not respond to requests for comment. Investigators believe the data was obtained via software installed on machines that customers use to swipe magnetic strips on their cards when paying for merchandise at Target stores, according to the person who was not authorized to...

<p>The too big to fail banks have a larger share of the U.S. banking industry than they have ever had before. So if having banks that were too big to fail was a "problem" back in 2008, what is it today? As you will read about below, the total number of banks in the United States has fallen to a brand new all-time record low and that means that the health of the too big to fail banks is now more critical to our economy than ever. In 1985, there were more than 18,000 banks in the United States. Today, there are only 6,891 left, and that number continues to drop every single year. That means that more than 10,000 U.S. banks have gone out of existence since 1985. Meanwhile, the too big to fail banks just keep on getting even bigger. In fact, the six largest banks in the United States (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) have collectively gotten 37 percent larger over the past five years. If even one of those banks collapses, it would be absolutely crippling to the U.S. economy. If several of them were to collapse at the same time, it could potentially plunge us into an economic depression unlike anything that this nation has ever seen before.</p>

The bitcoin bubble appears to have burst as a stepped series of price crashes are underway with the price currently standing at 1074 down form 1240 barely a day earlier. A clue to its future direction can be discerned from the unfolding technical price patterns, that just as I wrote wrote in the run up to the peak of the Bitcoin bubble with the price converging on USD 1250 that the market was primed to crash and all it was waiting for was any even marginally negative news to act as trigger for increasing waves of market panics as GREED...

An article that recently came out in Rolling Stone, titled “Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail,” by Matt Taibbi, asserts that the government is afraid to prosecute powerful bankers, such as those running HSBC. Taibbi says that there’s “an arrestable class and an unarrestable class.” What is your view on the current state of class war in the U.S.? Well, there’s always a class war going on. The United States, to an unusual extent, is a business-run society, more so than others. The business classes are very class-conscious—they’re constantly fighting a bitter class war to improve their power and diminish...

Are U.S. federal government policy makers planning for an economic meltdown? Fiscal and financial news isn’t a particularly sexy topic for broad audiences, even under normal circumstances. And over the Thanksgiving national holiday weekend, about the only news people care to consume are football scores. But as we enjoyed turkey dinners, shopping, and hopefully some quality time with friends and family – and even in the recent days leading up to the holiday weekend – some major policy ideas and changes have emerged that could keep you away from your personal finances in the face of another meltdown. Americans...

Leading US banks have warned that they could start charging companies and consumers for deposits if the US Federal Reserve cuts the interest it pays on bank reserves. Depositors already have to cope with near-zero interest rates, but paying just to leave money in the bank would be highly unusual and unwelcome for companies and households. The warning by bank executives highlights the dangers of one strategy the Fed could use to offset an eventual “tapering” of the $85bn a month in asset purchases that have fuelled global financial markets for the last year.

Banks Warn Fed They May Have To Start Charging Depositors Tyler Durden 11/24/2013 15:24 -0500 The Fed's Catch 22 just got catchier. While most attention in the recently released FOMC minutes fell on the return of the taper as a possibility even as soon as December (making the November payrolls report the most important ever, ever, until the next one at least), a less discussed issue was the Fed's comment that it would consider lowering the Interest on Excess Reserves to zero as a means to offset the implied tightening that would result from the reduction in the monthly flow...

I've been away for weeks now on a non-financial assignment (we have something unusual coming out in Rolling Stone in a few weeks) so I've fallen behind on some crazy developments on Wall Street. There are multiple scandals blowing up right now, including a whole set of ominous legal cases that could result in punishments so extreme that they might significantly alter the long-term future of the financial services sector. As one friend of mine put it, "Whatever those morons put aside for settlements, they'd better double it." Firstly, there's a huge mess involving possible manipulation of the world currency...

Former Assistant Housing Secretary Catherine Austin Fitts says all U.S. citizens are partly responsible for banker fraud. Fitts, also a top Wall Street Banker, says, “What popular opinion has said again and again and again is it wants the dirty money. . . . It wants the U.S. to play this geopolitical top dog game to the extent it provides subsidy to them. We can’t have our cake and eat it too. . . . If we have a model that is dependent on crime and fraud . . . we have to change the model.” Fitts calls what we...

The folks in the Obama administration may be unable to run a health-care Web site, but they’re brutally determined and efficient when it comes to squashing those who oppose their policies — as Jamie Dimon is finding out. Today the JP Morgan chief executive could be putting the final touches on a deal with the Obama Justice Department that would make Don Corleone proud. For various alleged financial “crimes” involving the sale of fraudulent mortgages, the nation’s largest bank is slated to fork over $13 billion, admit some culpability and prepare for a barrage of lawsuits from Wall Street ambulance...

Fannie Mae Risk-sharing Notes are trading tighter, according to analysts at Credit Suisse. Mid-market spreads for Fannie Mae risk-sharing CAS securities tighter than pricing levels on Oct. 15, Credit Suisse analysts say in report today. • M1 at +167bps vs. +200 • M2 at +482bps vs. +525 • Both had priced “significantly tighter than initial guidance” • CS, BofAML were joint leads • Freddie Mac STACR indicative levels at +210, +535, CS says • Priced at +340, +715 in July • NOTE: ~75 investors participated in $675m Fannie deal, ~50 in $500m Freddie deal, meaning typically only small blocks trade,...

As I discussed yesterday, Obamacare subsidies are available in Virginia to households making 400% of poverty line and twice the Virginia median household income. So, households making above $120,000 per year bear the subsidies for those earning under $120,000. Now we find out from RealtyTrac that half of bank-foreclosed properties are STILL occupied by prior owners! That means FREE RENT FOR DEFAULTERS!!!!!!! We already know that 43% of Americans pay no Federal income taxes. And the number of people on food stamps continues to explode. So, its FREE MONEY FOR EVERYONE!!!! At least for people making less than $120,000 a...

Wall Street is clear about who’s to blame for the government shutdown and a looming debt default: tea party Republicans. What’s less clear is what Wall Street can do about it. The reality is that deep-pocketed financial services executives and their lobbyists have little leverage against tea party lawmakers who don’t much care for financiers or big banks and don’t rely heavily on the industry for campaign cash. “Those are the ones who are most problematic for Boehner,” one D.C.-based lobbyist who represents financial services clients said of tea party lawmakers. “I don’t think there’s any way for Wall Street...

I've always said that to get the market's real reaction to actions or inaction of the Federal Reserve you have to wait for the next day, not the two hours after the news. That being the case, yesterday's session suggests Wall Street still doesn't know what to make of the decision to keep buying assets as a form of accommodation ... the question is to whom is the Fed accommodating? Main Street isn't benefiting from the Fed: > Jobs are scares, and the ones that exist are low-paying or part time or (mostly) both > Wages are decreasing rapidly >...

Say hello to Big Brother. . . Again. As if the information collected through the NSA, IRS, and FBI weren’t enough, the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (does that Orwellian named entity not give you the full body shivers?) has decided that government does not have a stranglehold on the spending habits of enough Americans. As a result, the Bureau, which was created as part of Dodd-Frank, is planning on monitoring up to 80 percent of all debit and credit card purchases – roughly 42 billion transactions. (Ironically, the agency has not released how much this data mining program...

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced August 29 that it will "encourage" Swiss banks to cooperate with its tax evasion investigations. Part of the encouragement comes in the form of a joint statement with the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, stating the mountain nation - known for its clocks, neutrality and the tendency of its banks not to ask too many questions about depositor's money - will cooperate with DOJ. Banks that aided tax evaders - and are currently...

Tomorrow I meet with investors making an effort to protect themselves from the inevitable that this video, the first of its kind, outlines very well. Seeing this video is a must for those that recognize that I know beforehand the major events that will shape our lives going into 2020. This is the first imperative that I have sent you that is a must see. The solution offered here is different from the GOTS strategy I discuss at our meeting, and is not the solution for the individual at any level of wealth. What is perfectly outlined is the problem...