Credit card interest rates hold steady!

The national average annual percentage rate (APR) on new card offers held steady at 14.93 percent Wednesday after inching up the previous week in average's first movement in more than a month. This is the 13th week out of 22 that interest rates haven't budged. However, not all card issuers were inactive this week.

Debt lose in 5 steps...

Getting in shape for bathing suit season can be just as daunting as paying off outstanding credit card debt. If you adopt a regular exercise routine and reduce your calorie intake, however, you can walk into a dressing room with confidence. That same determination can help you get your finances in shape.

EMC Mortgage Sued by Securitization Trust in New York

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) EMC Mortgage unit was sued for breach of contract by a trust that financed the purchase of residential mortgage loans.

StanChart achieves landmark RMB 1bn of ECP issuance

Standard Chartered has exceeded RMB 1 billion in outstanding Euro Commercial Paper (ECP) issuance, positioning the bank as the largest issuer of RMB ECP out of London.

A Model for Banks: Citi's Broad Payments Vision

If you believe Citi's (NYSE: C) Paul Galant, the world's access to the Internet will be greater than its access to water in the near future.

The New York bank's head of its Global Enterprise Payments group says he believes banks — in particular his own — hold the keys to mobile commerce.

Protection Bank of America’s!

To protect Bank of America from inconvenience, Charlotte, North Carolina has directed its police officers to harass and arrest protesters.

Deutsche Bank with Johnson Matthey signed an agreement storage of physical metals

Deutsche Bank is extending its physical metals capabilities having signed an agreement with Johnson Matthey for custody and storage of physical platinum and palladium ingots and plates.

Insurance Broker-Bank Fee Income Up 9% in 2011

Bank holding company insurance-brokerage-fee income rose more than 9 percent last year compared to 2010, reaching record levels of close to $8 billion, according to a recent report measuring bank-insurance activity.

JPMorgan Veered From Hedging Practices at Competing Banks

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s biggest U.S. competitors say their corporate investment offices avoid the use of derivatives that led to the bank’s $2 billion loss and buy fewer bonds exposed to credit risk.

Credit Card Companies Seek to Lower Their Risk

Credit card companies seeking to lower their risk have several ways to go about it, and they’ll be using, when the new laws go into effect. Some consumers are being hit with lowered credit lines – sometimes lower than their outstanding balances. This triggers over-limit fees and causes panic in those consumers who are unable to pay the balance down below the new credit limit. So you can get a free credit report.

Mortgage Rates Lower Still, But Progress Is Slow

Mortgage Rates improved marginally from yesterday's new all-time lows.  Without any major scheduled events to digest, bond markets were left to their own devices and paid a decent amount of attention to a sell-off in stocks. 

Alabama Bank's Failure Raises 2012 Total to 24

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Alabama Trust Bank in Sylacauga on Friday, making it Alabama's first bank failure in more than a year.

ABC gets green light for New York branch!

The Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) has received approval from the Federal Reserve Board and New York Financial Services Authority to set up a branch in New York.

Growth of inflation is inevitable for UK households

In its latest MoneyMood survey, Legal & General found that nine out of 10 respondent households expect inflation to be higher, or to remain at today’s level (3.5%), over the next 12 months.
Only one in 10 households were hopeful that inflation would ease and more than half thought that inflation would be higher than any rise in their earnings over the next year.

Credit card protection plans draw state lawsuits, federal scrutiny

If you have a credit card, you've probably heard the pitch. It comes from a telemarketer, or perhaps from a mailer included with your statement, and warns that "life is unpredictable." Prepare for the worst, the pitch goes on to say, by purchasing a plan that will handle your credit card debt if you lose your job, become disabled or die.

Mortgage Rates Match All-Time Lows; "Wall" Begins Cracking!

Mortgage Rates continued a recent trend of moderate improvement fueled indirectly by political turmoil in Europe.  The gains bring rates in line with all-time lows with some lenders priced slightly better and some priced slightly worse than than February's record offerings.  The current rate environment is causing the longstanding "wall" at 3.875% to begin to crack.

Bank-Loan Funds: A Risky Reach for Yield!

With interest rates so low, individual investors have been piling into bank-loan funds, taking on more risk as they seek higher yields and a hedge against inflation. In April $729 million flowed into U.S. mutual funds that invest in the corporate debt, also known as floating-rate loans, according to preliminary data from EPFR Global, a research firm.

Deutsche Bank to Pay $202 Million to Settle Suit!

Thursday's agreement settles a case brought last year, in which the Justice Department alleged the Deutsche unit "recklessly" lied about the quality of loans made by the unit of the German bank and guaranteed by the U.S. government. Justice said in May 2011 that it was seeking to recover damages and losses to government lending programs that could exceed $1 billion.

Bank of England keeps QE and rates unchanged

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has decided to leave the UK’s interest rate unchanged at the record low of 0.5%.

Investment banks drive April rise in City jobs

The City jobs market showed signs of improvement in April as investment banks stepped up recruitment, having been buoyed by better results.

According to financial services recruitment firm, Astbury Marsden, around 3,455 City job vacancies were created last month, representing a 9% rise on March.

Cooperate or Lose Out in Mobile Payments!

Recently introduced the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index to a group of c-level bankers, and told them that one of our top-level findings is that it's the early days for mobile payments.

No Repeating Slowdown Seen by U.S. With Banks to Housing!

The smallest gain in U.S. payrolls in six months need not presage the kind of slowdown that bedeviled the world’s largest economy for the past two years.

11th Annual Innovators of the Year

As overused as the word "innovation" may be, it's still an important concept to the financial services industry, where nimble newcomers can easily crop up and steal market share with the clever use of new technology and new communication outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.

RBS posts £1.4bn Q1 loss!

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has posted a £1.4 billion pre-tax loss for the first quarter of 2012, compared with a loss of £116 million a year earlier and a pre-tax loss of £1.97 billion in the final quarter of 2011.

Mortgage Rates Continue Bouncing Along The Bottom

Mortgages rates are unchanged to slightly lower today, after shying away from multi-month lows yesterday.  A weaker than expected employment report helped underlying rates markets start the day off in good territory, but further progress was elusive.

The World’s Unbanked Poor

After the global financial crisis, banks may not be viewed as the most trustworthy organizations, but generally they are considered a safer place to keep money than stowing it under a mattress.

Mortgage Rates Edge Closer To All-Time Lows!

Mortgages Rates are moderately improved to begin the week, taking them slightly lower than than April's best two days (4/10 and 4/23) and as close as they've been to all-time lows in several months. This further solidifies the Conventional 30yr Fixed Best-Execution Rate at 3.875%, which had recently shared the stage with 4.0%.