_Economy and Finance

Europe's sickly banks By Colin Barr June 20, 2011: 6:30 AM ET You could knock Europe's banks over with a feather.

Europe Warns US to Speed Up Bank Reform Published: Wednesday, 1 Jun 2011 | 4:41 AM ET By: Peter Spiegel, Financial Times The European Union’s top financial regulator has warned the Obama administration that it must speed up and toughen its new banking rules in order to prevent American banks from having unfair advantages over their European counterparts.

Dutch Banks Continue To Pull Away From The Financial Crisis (00:09:42 min) The Dutch banking system is gradually recovering from the financial crisis, as evidenced by better underlying profitability supported by an improved economic backdrop. Although the outlook for earnings growth remains limited, several large banks are making rapid progress with their restructuring processes. This should support their efforts to repay the government support that several of them received during the downturn. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Associate Director Alexandre Birry provides an overview of the Dutch banking system's recovery, and how it is affecting the market's larger players. Watch | Download

Portugal: What Standard & Poor's Downgrade Means For The Country's Banks (00:20:59 min) Since March 28th, 2011, we have downgraded, by several notches, the five Portuguese banks that we rate to 'BBB-'. We have also lowered the short-term ratings to 'A-3'. The outlooks on four of the five banks are negative. One bank still remains on CreditWatch negative. What prompted our rating actions on the banks? In this podcast, Director Elena Iparraguirre explains our rationale, why we feel sovereign risk and banks' ratings are so tighthly correlated, and our main expectations for the Portuguese financial system. Listen

Related News: Europe · France · Germany · Italy · U.K. & Ireland European Bank Funding Threatened as Basel III Meets Solvency II By Kevin Crowley - Mar 29, 2011 8:01 AM GMT+0900 European banks are being forced to sell more long-term bonds as regulators seek to prevent another financial crisis. European insurers say their own regulator will stop them from buying such debt.

Could Bank Resolution Regimes Spur Rating Actions? (00:05:37 min) Bank resolution regimes are legal and regulatory frameworks that clarify the powers and approaches taken by governments to deal with failing banks. Could these regimes spur rating actions? Moreover, will banks be allowed to fail? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director and Criteria Officer for Financial Institutions Michelle Brennan answers these questions and provides a big picture look at the effects the regimes could have on global banking and financial systems. Watch | Download

MARCH 23, 2011, 8:14 AM ET Fed to Bank of America: No Dividend for You Bank of America is being left in the dividend cold. The banking giant said in a regulatory filing that the Federal Reserve rejected BofA’s proposed plan for a “modest” bump to its dividend in the second half of the year — a move BofA has been signaling to investors for months. BofA said it can “resubmit a revised comprehensive capital plan” to the Fed.

BUSINESS |MARCH 18, 2011 U.S. Libor Probe Includes BofA, Citi, UBS By DAVID ENRICH, CARRICK MOLLENKAMP And JEAN EAGLESHAM As U.S. regulators home in on at least three banks in a probe of manipulation of a key benchmark rate, investigators face challenges proving wrongdoing because banks report and obtain borrowing costs in an opaque process that leaves a scant evidence trail, according to people familiar with the situation.

U.K. Banks Continue To Recover, But Regulatory Changes Loom (00:06:32 min) U.K. bank results for 2010 indicate an ongoing gradual recovery from the global financial crisis and recession. But how will impending regulation affect the sector's recovery? In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor's Director Richard Barnes discusses the trends shaping the U.K.'s banking sector and the potential effects regulatory changes could have on banks' operations. Watch

Why Spanish Banks Still Face Difficulties In 2011 (00:09:01 min) Despite a moderate economic recovery, Spanish banks face another year of obstacles and uncertainty as the industry attempts to significantly transform itself. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Standard & Poor’s Director Elena Iparraguirre discusses the major implications of restructuring, the industry’s strengths and weaknesses, consolidation, and our outlooks for 2011 and 2012. Watch

Global Finance ranks the 50 Biggest Banks Top 10 see $3.2 trillion drop in assets NEW YORK, September 13, 2010 — Global Finance reveals its annual ranking of the World’s 50 Biggest Banks, as measured by total assets. The list will be published in the October issue of Global Finance Magazine. The world’s biggest banks are beginning, once again, to enjoy calmer times. But while the people running the banks may be heaving a huge sigh of relief, some serious damage has been done. All but a handful of the banks at the top of the Global Finance World’s Biggest Banks list have seen their assets fall over the past year. The top 10 banks have seen $3.2 trillion hacked off their combined balance sheet, giving an idea of the severity of the carnage at the top of the table. It appears the spoils are accruing to the upstarts, though, as the total assets of the top 50 as a whole barely budged at $61.8 trillion.

Global Finance names the World's 50 Safest Banks 2010 NEW YORK, September 2, 2010 – With bank stability still high on corporate and investor agendas, Global Finance publishes its 19th annual list of the world’s safest banks. The sovereign debt crisis in Europe and renewed concerns about the global economic outlook are once again putting the spotlight on bank safety. It should be somewhat reassuring that 45 of the top-50 safest banks is this year’s listing maintained their standing among the top echelon in this year’s ranking. Banks that cleaned up their balance sheets and strengthened their capital positions were the biggest gainers. In many instances, non-performing loans have been reduced significantly. Several major British banks have rejoined the top 50, although many of the big name banks that lost their safest bank ranking during the credit crunch are still absent from the list. See the coverage on CNBC :

Banks Continue to Suffer From Weak Revenue Growth: Whitney - CNBC Despite relatively strong second-quarter earnings, US banks are still suffering from poor revenue growth and will continue to do so at least into next year, financial analyst Meredith Whitney told CNBC Tuesday. …