Center of gravitas shifts at the New York Times
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own)
By Agnes T. Crane
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) – One of the 20th
century’s most influential American publishers, Arthur Ochs
Sulzberger, died on Saturday. He was 86. The grandson of Adolph
S. Ochs who bought the New York Times more than a century ago,
Sulzberger transformed what had been a struggling paper into a
media empire. Upheaval in the news business, however, has forced
his son Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. to dismantle it. The elder
Sulzberger’s gravitas will be missed as his heir struggles to
keep the paper a family affair.
Federal Reserve running out of taboos to break
By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
The U.S. central bank is running out of taboos to break. This week, Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren admitted that the latest quantitative easing broadside would debase the dollar. His counterpart in Minneapolis, Narayana Kocherlakota, traditionally on the hawkish side, said that an above-target inflation rate of 2.25 percent would be tolerable.
Inept Fannie/BofA deal highlights US mortgage mess
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
By Agnes T. Crane
NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) – An inept $512
million mortgage deal between Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB: Quote, Profile, Research) and Bank of
America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) casts another revealing spotlight into what ails
mortgage finance in America. A new report shows that the
government-controlled agency paid too much to pull some loan
servicing business from Bank of America for doing a bad job.
This double incompetence doesn’t just reflect poorly on the two
firms. It’s a reminder that the backbone of the U.S. housing
finance is in dire need of repair.
American bank mergers will be a messy affair
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)(Deletes extraneous character in first
paragraph.)
By Agnes T. Crane
NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Mergers among
small and medium-sized American banks are a no-brainer in a
post-crisis world. There are still 7,000 of them battling
cheaply-financed too-big-to-fail behemoths and super-regional
juggernauts. So bulking up is something of an existential
necessity. But getting hitched is easier than it looks. Just ask
Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit (FMER.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which on Thursday
unveiled a messy $1 bln-plus takeover of rival Citizens Republic
(CRBC.O: Quote, Profile, Research).
U.S. banks loath to kick even soft crisis drug
By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
U.S. banks don’t even want to kick the softest of crisis drugs. Community bankers are pushing to extend a crisis program under which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp insures $1.5 trillion of deposits without limit. Yet the program helps concentrate risk, distorts funding costs and brings outsized benefits to the biggest banks.
Sandy Weill U-turn fuels big bank breakup fire
By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
Sanford Weill is the last person you’d expect to champion the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall. After all, Citigroup was not just his creation – the banking behemoth killed off the Depression-era legislation that kept investment and commercial banking separate. But on Wednesday he called for breaking up such conjoined firms, joining a long list of critics across the political spectrum who have become frustrated with financial reform.
In his interview on CNBC, Weill complained that the combination of the Dodd-Frank Act’s tangle of regulation and populist outrage at big banks has hobbled the industry. His suggestion: hive off investment banking. This is rich coming from the man who hung a portrait with the words “The Shatterer of Glass-Steagall” in his office. Nor did he shoulder any of the blame for creating a mega-bank that stumbled from crisis to crisis before sucking down a $45 billion taxpayer bailout.
Wells Fargo’s mortgage strength is U.S. weakness
By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
Wells Fargo’s mortgage strength is America’s weakness. The bank accounts for a third of the country’s new home loans and is the largest servicer, too. That’s great for Wells’ bottom line. But such a dominant market share, if sustained, could be bad news for consumers and taxpayers. Rivals need to up their game.
Bankruptcy loses its taboo for California’s cities
By Agnes T. Crane and Martin Hutchinson
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.
Bankruptcy is no longer taboo among California’s struggling cities. San Bernardino has just become the third Golden State municipality in two weeks to fail – ending a four-year hiatus since fellow California town Vallejo began its costly and protracted court battle against creditors. So far, though, investors seem pretty sanguine.
BREAKINGVIEWS:Coty’s IPO should give it a leg up on Avon
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Coty has moved
on, at least for the time being. The fragrance company that made
an ambitious, if unsuccessful, bid for rival cosmetics group
Avon (AVP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) earlier this year is seeking a consolation prize in
the public markets. The company controlled by Germany’s Reimann
family hopes to sell $700 million in an IPO. The deal could
bolster its case for another shot at Avon.
Libor rigging looks like victimless crime
By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
Barclays’ Libor deception is bad news for the banking industry, but the artificial quotes probably didn’t significantly distort borrowing costs or the overall economy. There may have been big losers in this scandal, but they aren’t likely to be found too far afield from other banks’ trading desks.
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