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The article discusses the role of former Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY) currency trader Grant Wilson in gathering evidence that led to lawsuits filed against the bank by the U.S. Justice Department and others, alleging BNY defrauded its currency-trading customers by overcharging them. While working for BNY, Wilson was part of a group investigating currency trading that included fraud investigator Harry Markopolos.

The article reports that the U.S. Justice Department and New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman have filed civil suits against banking company Bank of New York Mellon Corp., alleging it engaged in fraud by overcharging investors on currency transactions it handled for them. A group led by fraud investigator Harry Markopolos helped instigate the suits.

The article discusses chairman and chief executive officer Gerald L. Hassell of banking company Bank of New York Mellon Corp. He has been at Mellon in various capacities for 38 years and is considered to have many loyal supporters among its senior managers. In the aftermath of replacing his predecessor, Robert P. Kelly, Hassell must cut costs and grow profits amid an environment of low interest rates.

The article discusses doubts in the credit market about banking company Bank of America Corp. The cost of swaps used to insure against default on the bank's bonds has risen substantially. A ten-year bond issued by the company in 2011 has seen its yield rise to 6.5%. Credit strategist Edward Marrinan says markets seem to be concerned over the bank's capital levels.

The article reports that stock prices in the U.S. and Europe fell due to investors' concerns about the finances of European banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 1.6 percent. European bank stocks fell significantly, including the stocks of large banks Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Bank PLC. It is noted bank stocks are particularly vulnerable to rumors due to the lack of information on bank finances.

The article discusses heightened concern on the part of state and federal officials in the U.S. about the ability of foreign banks' U.S. operations to obtain adequate funding. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been meeting with banks to evaluate their funding needs. Deutsche Bank AG and UniCredit SpA are among large European banks that do business in the U.S.

The article reports that attorneys general in Florida and Virginia have separately sued banking company Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for alleged improper pricing of currency transactions Mellon processed for pension funds in those states. A 2008 internal document at the bank said volatility in currency prices helped Mellon achieve greater profits when trading on behalf of institutional customers.

The article discusses real-estate appraisals in the U.S. Some believe a recovery in the U.S. housing market has been hampered by unrealistically low appraisals. Lawrence Yun of the National Association of Realtors believes low appraisals are responsible for a rise in the number of canceled home sales.

The article reports that Swiss bank UBS AG is assisting regulators in an investigation into whether several banks manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. The U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are among agencies seeking to determine if banks under-reported their own borrowing costs in an effort to mislead competitors.

The article reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating financial-services firms Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and State Street Corp. regarding their handling of foreign-exchange transactions for public pension funds. Of particular concern to the SEC is how Mellon and State Street represented their services to their clients.

The article discusses the Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s pricing of foreign-exchange transactions for pension fund Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association. Figures indicate the bank has had a tendency to conduct currency transactions at prices unfavorable to the bank over a ten-year period. The two sides differ over whether the bank must act as a fiduciary for the fund in such trades.

The article discusses a report from the U.S. Senate on the U.S. mortgage market in the years leading up to the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was criticized for selling mortgage-backed securities while believing those securities would decline in value. In 2004 financial-services firm Washington Mutual ignored it's risk officer's warning that house prices were set to fall.

The article discusses a report to be released by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on the role of the securities industry in the real estate bubble leading to the 2008 global financial crisis. It is reported that the government's report will center on the role of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG in the creation and marketing of derivative securities based on so-called subprime mortgages.

The article discloses that a 2006 internal report at the government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae warned that foreclosure attorneys in Florida sought to hasten foreclosures by being dishonest, and questioned the legal standing of some mortgage services to foreclose on properties. A spokeswoman for Fannie said the firm took action to address issues it was aware of.

The article reports that investigators from several U.S. agencies including the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into whether the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) was manipulated by certain U.S. and European banks. UBS AG is among banks that have been contacted.

The article reports that the pension fund Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association has curtailed its currency-trading business with Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Mellon has served as a custody bank for the fund, which is not pleased that Mellon has profited from some of the fund's foreign-currency transactions.

The article reports that some banks are believed to have charged large U.S. investment companies excessive amounts for foreign-currency trades. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is among banks suspected by investment firm BlackRock Inc. of overcharging on trades. Attorneys general in Florida, Virginia, and California have sued custody banks for taking improper profits on currency trades for their clients.

The article discusses quail hunting, and in particular quail hunting at the Willowin Plantation in Lax, Georgia. Owned by the family of William O. Wingate IV, Willowin strictly limits the number of hunters who can participate. The author describes elements that make for good quail hunting, and details his two-day Willowin hunting expedition.

The article discusses litigation filed against several custody banks in the U.S. alleging they overcharged state pension funds on foreign-currency trades. Special attention is paid to charges by Delaware shell company FX Analytics that Bank of New York Mellon Corp. used false trades to cheat Virginia state pension funds out of $20 million or more.

The article reports that attorneys general in California and Virginia are receiving help from whistle-blowers in an investigation into whether public pension funds were overcharged by banks for foreign-exchange transactions. Assisting the whistle-blowers is investor Harry Markowitz, who was early to detect a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by convicted swindler Bernard Madoff.

The article reports that U.S. banks are imposing tougher terms on municipalities seeking to renegotiate bond deals. Not all banks are renewing expired letters of credit, and those that are have begun charging more for them, and demanding that the recipients transfer over more of their fee-generating business.

The article reports that hedge funds and other investors who made profitable bearish trades amid the global financial crisis of 2009-2009 were among recipients of aid from the U.S. Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). Financial firms Magnetar Capital, Tricadia Capital, and others benefited from TALF loans.

The article discusses the efforts of the U.S. Justice Department's U.S. Trustee Program to ensure that law firms and mortgage processor Lender Processing Services Inc. are properly handling foreclosures. Particulars are given about a foreclosure in Monroe, Louisiana involving the Boles Law Firm that resulted in Boles agreeing to a two-year period of federal supervision of its bankruptcy cases.

The article reports that private-equity firms are on pace during October, 2010 to extract record-high dividends from the companies they own. Expectations that U.S. taxes on dividends could rise in 2011 are helping to fuel such transactions. Critics say that increasing a firm's debt to provide dividend to owners can harm its long-term prospects.

The article reports that the Florida state attorney general is investigating mortgage-processing firm Lender Processing Services Inc. along with several Florida law firms in connection with the handling of mortgage documents in foreclosure proceedings. Questions have arisen as to whether documents were properly reviewed, or in some cases fabricated.

The article reports that investment banks in Europe and the U.S. are shifting toward business models that involve less risk. Contributing factors include tighter regulation and a reduction in securities-trading volume. Swiss bank authorities have recommended higher capital requirements than called for by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and regulators in other nations could follow suit.

The article discusses the U.S. Office of Financial Research (OFR). Housed within the Treasury Department, OFR is authorized to collect sensitive trading and loan data as it seeks to identify emerging systemic risks to the financial system. Special attention is paid to Professor John Liechty, who lobbied for OFR's creation.

The article discusses the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) investigation into the 2008 collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Attention has focused on whether Lehman used creative accounting to mask its true debt levels. The SEC is also probing whether Lehman executives disclosed to investors losses arising from its purchase of development company Archstone-Smith Trust.

The article discusses an investigation by New York state and the U.S. of European banks who have engaged in money laundering and other practices designed to allow foreign countries such as Iran and Sudan evade economic sanctions. The role of former intelligence analyst Eitan Arusy, an investigator for New York prosecutors, is examined.

The article reports that regulatory changes and a weak U.S. economy have prompted layoffs in the U.S. financial-services industry. Barclays PLC has gotten rid of about 400 employees, and Jean-Yves Fillion of bank BNP Paribas SA expects additional layoffs in the U.S. investment-banking industry. Employment in the U.S. securities industry is down 6.7% since 2007.

The article reports that Sea Island Co., a resort in Sea Island, Georgia, will sell itself to investment funds Oaktree Capital Management and Avenue Capital Group for $197.5 million, and then seek bankruptcy protection. The resort found itself unable to service hundreds of millions of dollars in debt contracted for by chief executive Bill Jones III to finance a renovation and expansion during 2006-2007.

The article discusses challenges faced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in dealing with troubled real-estate assets acquired when it provided assistance to financial firm Bear Stearns in 2008. If the Bank forecloses on many properties, it could provoke political opposition. However, the U.S. Congress has an interest in seeing the bank recoup $29 billion in loans backed by the properties.

The article discusses the role of financial firm Deutsche Bank AG in the collapse of the U.S. mortgage-bond market. At the same time Deutsche Bank was creating and selling mortgage securities to one group of clients, it was advising other clients to invest in a manner that would be profitable should those securities fall in value.

The article examines the relationship between the investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the insurance company American International Group (AIG) during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Goldman Sachs has submitted documents to a U.S. independent commission investigating the crisis detailing how it established prices for mortgage-backed securities it insured with AIG, a transaction which brought the latter firm to the brink of collapse.

The article discusses a case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against automobile-parts retailer CSK Auto Inc. chief executive Maynard L. Jenkins. The SEC wants Jenkins to pay back to his firm $4.1 million in bonuses and profits on stock options received during a period when CSK was engaged in fraudulent accounting. There is no evidence that Jenkins knew about the wrongdoing, though.

The article discusses documents released by a U.S. Senate committee investigating the financial services company Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and its role in the global financial crisis. The documents describe how subprime mortgages were turned into mortgage bonds and mortgage-backed securities by Goldman and other firms, which created a situation where the default on a relatively small number of mortgage loans generated huge losses for the financial services industry and financiers.

The article focuses on the business failure of the bank Washington Mutual Inc. and its financial relationship with the financial services company Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Documents released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Investigations indicate that Goldman marketed many of the mortgage-backed securities created out of subprime mortgages issued by Washington Mutual.

This article reports that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating other failed mortgage investment deals arranged by large Wall Street firms that also misled investors similarly to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The investigations are looking at investment products designed by these firms that allowed key clients to bet that there would be a sharp housing downturn.

The article reports that U.S. prosecutors are investigating Docx LLC. A subsidiary of Lender Processing Services Inc., Docx provides documentation used by banks in foreclosure proceedings. In several instances Docx has been accused of providing faulty documents that failed to substantiate ownership of mortgages being foreclosed upon.

This article reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve board has released information about the troubled mortgage assets which it purchased through its bailouts of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc. The information shows subprime residential mortgages on properties all over the U.S. and commercial loans to properties in such places as Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Panama City, Florida. The properties are now worth less than the amounts owed on the loans.

The article reports that the U.S. Justice Department and Wachovia Bank are negotiating to settle allegations that faulty controls at Wachovia allowed exchange houses in Mexico to launder funds from illegal-drug trafficking. Such exchange houses along Mexico's border with the U.S. are typically used by immigrants in the U.S. to transfer money to their relatives in Latin America.

The article discusses findings of an oversight panel for the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program that indicate losses on real-estate loans could compel thousands of small banks to reduce their lending. Panel member Elizabeth Warren said banks that have been particularly active in commercial lending would face substantial numbers of loan failures.

The article discusses how some holders of variable-rate mortgages in the U.S. can experience significantly higher rate hikes than other persons with similar loans. Different mortgage indexes are used to recalculate loan rates, and these indexes do not always move in unison. As a result, monthly payments for seemingly identical loans can vary by as much as 25%.

The article discusses implications of a Swiss court decision that ruled UBS AG need not release to the U.S. information on accounts held by U.S. citizens. The ruling contradicts a prior agreement under which UBS agreed to provide the U.S. Internal Revenue Service with the identities of over 4400 account holders.

The article explains why the "Cofi" mortgage index overseen by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco experienced a dramatic jump on the last day of 2009. Cofi is used to determine changes in adjustable-mortgage rates in the U.S., and on that day it leaped by over 60%. The article explains the role of bank mergers in the increase, particularly Wachovia Corp.'s 2006 buyout of Golden West Financial Corp.

The article reports that a top priority of incoming Bank of America Corp. (BOA) chief executive Brian Moynihan will be to restructure the firm's credit-card operations. Between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009 the charge-off rate for BOA's credit cards roughly doubled. Moynihan concedes the bank has issued too many cards, and says profits from credit cards will not be as large as they once were.

The article reports that Credit Suisse Group anticipates it will pay a $536 million penalty to the U.S. government in connection with a U.S. investigation into the purchase by Iran of materials that can be used in weapons. Credit Suisse was involved in transactions barred by economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Iran.

The article discusses the involvement of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that almost bankrupted American International Group Inc. (AIG). Of the $80 billion in CDO insurance that AIG sold during a housing boom in the U.S., Goldman Sachs purchased $33 billion. The U.S. government eventually committed billions to bailing out AIG.

The article discusses significant volumes of debt held by U.S. banks that matures over the next few years. Before a global financial crisis emerged in 2007 many banks including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. took advantage of low borrowing costs to increase their debt levels. Moody's Investors Service estimates $10 trillion in bank debt will come due before the start of 2016. Some of the debt may have to be refinanced at much higher rates of interest.

The article discusses a report from the inspector general for the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that contradicts previous claims by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that Goldman faced no material losses in the event American International Group (AIG) collapsed. According to the report Goldman may have substantially over-valued assets it held to protect itself against defaults on insurance purchased from AIG.