Banks | featured news

The attorneys general of New York and Connecticut have issued subpoenas to seven banks over the possible manipulation of a global interest rate, a person with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday....

New York’s top banking regulator had charged the British bank with laundering $250 billion in tainted money for Iranian clients.

So just when we thought we had heard all about the threats the hazardous use of derivatives could unleash on to the economy, a leading bank [Morgan Stanley] apparently managed to find a new way to use them, this time to help gouge consumers of more than $150 million.

Standard Chartered is in talks with multiple law-enforcement officials, including New York's banking regulator, to resolve a probe into improper Iranian money transactions by the British bank, according to people familiar with the situation.

Libor benchmark interest rates are no longer "fit for purpose" and must be changed or replaced, Britain's regulator said on Friday as he set out proposals to restore their credibility.

Stocks edged slightly higher on Thursday, up for a fifth session, on better-than-expected jobless claims and trade data in the United States and hopes of further stimulus action from China's central bank.

Standard Chartered won some help from Britain's central bank governor on Wednesday in its fightback against the New York banking regulator's allegations that it had hidden $250 billion of transactions with Iran.

New York's top bank regulator threatened to strip Standard Chartered Plc of its state banking license, saying the British bank was a "rogue institution" that hid $250 billion in transactions tied to Iran, in violation of U.S. law.

The investigation into the manipulation of the Libor benchmark interest rate has led banks to seek to implicate their rivals, according to government and bank officials.

Financial markets will still be waiting to see whether the bank’s president, Mario Draghi, has other moves in mind.