Financial Institution | featured news

Dutch financial services group ING is to cut 2,700 staff and contract jobs, it said on Thursday in announcing third-quarter results, slashing the headcount at its Dutch retail banking operations by 10 percent in the face of deteriorating markets.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to examine MF Global Holdings Ltd amid concerns about missing client funds at the futures brokerage, the Wall Street Journal said Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street firm run by former Goldman Sachs Chairman and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine filed for bankruptcy Monday morning, making it the first big American casualty of the European debt crisis.

Financial institutions across the country have begun preparing for a worst-case scenario if Congress fails to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, assembling plans to offer customers emergency loans or waive fees if their federal pay or benefits checks do not arrive on time. Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest in the country, said this week it would advance pay to direct-deposit members who are active-duty military or civilian employees of the Defense Department. It also said it would expedite approvals for lines of credit, overdraft programs and higher credit card limits.

U.S. bank regulators said they will give 14 financial institutions an additional 30 days to submit plans to fix problems with their home-foreclosure practices, allowing more time to complete a broader settlement with state and federal agencies.

The banking industry, racked by the financial crisis and facing slower revenue growth, is starting to cut costs—increasingly at the expense of jobs.

Since WikiLeaks threatened to “take down” a major American bank, officials at Bank of America have been hunting for any sign that its systems have been compromised.

Bank of America Corp. has joined several other financial institutions in refusing to handle payments for WikiLeaks.

Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking billions in repayment from banks that sold bad loans to the mortgage giants to help offset taxpayer losses, but some financial institutions are balking.

Global financial regulators on Sunday agreed on new banking rules designed to strengthen bank finances and rein in excessive risk-taking to help prevent another crisis.