Financial Industry | featured news

Government officials on Monday asked a federal judge to approve a landmark settlement with some of the nation’s largest banks over flawed and fraudulent foreclosure practices, more than a month after they announced the $26 billion deal with fanfare at the Justice Department.

Fourth-quarter profit at Wells Fargo rose 20% as the banking giant posted more loan growth and again reduced the amount of money it sets aside to cover potential loan losses.

Financial markets are unlikely to be derailed by mass euro zone downgrades but with Greek debt talks at an impasse, pressure has been loaded on the bloc to shore up its defenses and glimmers of optimism from last week have been firmly doused.

Morgan Stanley will slash 580 jobs in New York as part of a broader wave of layoffs underway at the bank, according to a public filing.

U.S. lawmakers investigating the collapse of futures brokerage MF Global showed frustration with the firm's leaders about what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer funds.

A lawyer for James W. Giddens, the trustee, said the investigation into MF Global had shown suspicious transfers from the so-called segregated accounts that still appear to have a substantial shortfall.

Jon Corzine told a congressional panel Thursday that he never intended to break rules requiring failed securities firm MF Global to safeguard client funds. He also said he doesn't know what happened to an estimated $1.2 billion that went missing.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a big enough problem for U.S. banks that they should pay for opposition research into the political motives of protesters, said a firm that lobbies for the industry.

A U.S. futures regulator said on Tuesday that activity leading up to the bankruptcy of brokerage MF Global appears to be "either nefarious or illegal."

The 1,066-member workforce of MF Global Holdings Ltd's brokerage has been terminated, the latest aftershock to the parent company's $41 billion collapse nearly two weeks ago.