Banks Fueling Financial Disaster

By Dave Allen for Discount Gold & Silver

Once again, Pam and Russ Martens have grabbed our attention with another zinger.

In today’s Wall Street on Parade newsletter, they feature Michael Hsu, the acting director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The OCC charters, regulates, and supervises national banks, federally chartered savings associations and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks in the U.S.

They stand beside the Federal Reserve as a major regulator of banking institutions.

Specifically, the Martens write about how Hsu “undermined [already declining] public trust in the U.S. banking system” when he approved JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of failed First Republic Bank in May.

(By now, readers know that JPMorgan Chase is America’s largest – and, by some measures, the riskiest – bank in the nation.)

The Martens go on to note that Hsu’s response to that “collapse in public trust” was to, yes, issue a survey measuring public trust in, yes (again), banks.

The Martens tie much of Americans’ lack of trust to the number of unlawful acts committed by the largest of the too big to fail banks over the last 23 years.

https://bettermarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BetterMarkets_RAP_Sheet_OnePager_10-2023.pdf

They report, as shown in the chart, that the six largest Wall St. banks have been subject to an astounding 490 legal actions, leading to more than $207 billion in fines and settlements over that period.

That’s according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan firm Better Markets.

An October Better Markets press release entitled “Wall Street’s Rap Sheet” says:

“Year after year, Wall Street’s biggest banks continue to rip off, discriminate against, and financially endanger their customers..." 

“…Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo…have racked up more than $9 billion in fines in just the past 15 months.”

Among just their 2023 ignoble deeds:

• In May, Wells Fargo agreed to pay shareholders $1 billionto settle a class-action lawsuit, alleging the bank misled investors and the public about its response to allegations that the bank was improperly opening accounts without permission.
• In May, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $215 millionto settle a class action lawsuit that claimed the bank discriminated against women employees’ pay, performance evaluations and promotions.
• In June, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay about $290 millionto settle a class-action lawsuit by victims of Jeffrey Epstein that claimed the bank facilitated Epstein’s crimes because he had been a valuable client and helped introduce new clients to the bank.
• In July, the OCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau collected$250 million from Bank of America for illegally charging junk overdraft fees, withholding credit card rewards, and opening fake accounts.
• In August, Citigroup agreed to pay a $2.9 million fine to the SECto settle charges that the bank’s broker-dealer unit intentionally violated record-keeping requirements with respect to the expenses incurred in its underwriting business.
• In August, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay the equivalent of$6.8 million to the UK to settle allegations that its traders used banned applications that violated requirements to retain written communications.
• In September, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay the Commodities Futures Trading Commission a $30 million finefor failing to diligently supervise a wide range of its swap dealer activities and for unprecedented failures regarding other reporting and disclosure regulations.

The Rap Sheet adds, “…[W]hile banks portray themselves as upstanding entities with a primary mission of helping Americans fulfill their financial dreams, in truth they each have a dark side as unrepentant recidivists, breaking virtually every financial law and rule imaginable, often multiple times. 

“The banks’ ongoing, repeated, and unlawful conduct directly impacts the wallets and lives of Main Street Americans, many of whom are vulnerable and simply unable to bear the losses when they are victimized.”

Perhaps Hsu is more than undermining public trust by his seemingly cavalier approval of Morgan’s gratuitous acquisition of First Republic.

Indeed, as the Martens point out, Hsu – and Washington’s dysfunctional culture in general – is, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned over the summer “courting disaster.”

Their article goes on to describe the Office of Financial Research’s so-called Contagion Index. 

The OFR is a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department whose responsibility it is to “promote financial stability by delivering high-quality financial data, standards and analysis principally to support [the] Financial Stability Oversight Council…”

Or, as the Martens characterize it, the OFR “serves as an early warning system for serious cracks in financial stability.” 

https://www.financialresearch.gov/bank-systemic-risk-monitor/

The Contagion Index measures how specific a too big to fail bank default could result in a systemic contagion in the U.S. banking system as a result of its interdependence and leverage. 

As shown above, as of the end of the 2nd quarter, JPMorgan Chase represented three times more of the potential contagion as Bank of America, the second largest bank in the U.S.

This is no way to run the financial system of a Banana Republic much less the United States of America.

As long-time readers know, I’m a strong believer in fundamental but focused governmental reform. In this case, I can’t say it any better than how the Martens conclude their column today:

“Until corporate and Wall Street billionaire funding of political campaigns is outlawed by Congressional legislation” (or, I might add, a very unlikely constitutional amendment); 

“[U]ntil Wall Street’s revolving door is slammed shut; 

“[U]ntil the U.S. President stops nominating (and the Senate stops confirming) partners at Wall Street’s law firms to run the U.S. Department of Justice… 

“[T]his is the corrupt, predatory banking system that every American will be forced to attempt to navigate.” 

`Amen to that!