Banks, Regulators | featured news

A federal judge on Monday struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying he couldn't tell whether the deal was fair and criticizing regulators for shielding the public from the details of what the firm did wrong.

Regulators closed Community Bank of Rockmart, Ga., on Thursday, raising the nationwide count of bank failures to 88 for the year.

Regulators closed Bank of the Commonwealth, of Norfolk, Va., and Citizens Bank of Northern California, based in Nevada City, bringing the nationwide tally of bank failures to 73 for the year.

The U.S. regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accuses the banks of negligence in misrepresenting the risks embedded in the securities sold to the home-finance giants.

Several European countries that banned short-selling have extended the prohibition until the end of September. When concerns about European banks’ exposure to Greek debt sent their stocks plummeting two weeks ago, market regulators in Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Spain stepped in to prohibit traders from betting on the decline in a share’s price.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. must face a $10 billion lawsuit over the toxic remnants of Washington Mutual Bank, a federal judge ruled.

Regulators closed Public Savings Bank of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., on Thursday, boosting to 65 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

Eight of 90 banks have flunked stress tests that project how they would fare in another recession, and 16 more barely passed, Europe’s banking regulator said Friday. The failing banks should “promptly” take steps to strengthen their financial cushions against losses, the European Banking Authority said as it released the results. The banks that barely passed may also face pressure to strengthen their finances along with the ones that failed.

Global regulators said that banks deemed too-big-to-fail would have to set aside an additional cushion of capital reserves in an effort to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

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.