By Daniel Wilchins and Carrick Mollenkamp Thu May 17, 2012 10:12am EDT (Reuters) - It's the biggest parlor game on Wall Street: Estimating how large JPMorgan Chase & Co's trading loss will be from a hedging strategy that went wrong. The biggest U.S. bank by assets has already disclosed $2 billion of paper losses, and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said it could lose another $1 billion or more.The losses will grow, some traders say, because it appears JPMorgan has only sold a small portion of its position, leaving it vulnerable to price swings in a thinly traded market. Others are not so sure the bank will suffer much more than it already has. Dimon said the bank won't rashly sell, and any additional losses could ... Continue reading →

By Carrick Mollenkamp, Brett Wolf and Brian Grow NEW YORK | Thu May 3, 2012 7:30am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - In April 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York state bank regulators cracked the whip on HSBC Bank USA, ordering it to do a better job of policing itself for suspicious money flows. Staff in the bank's anti-money laundering division, according to a person who worked there at the time, flew into a "panic." The U.S. unit of London-based HSBC Holdings Plc quickly rallied. It hired a tough federal prosecutor to oversee anti-money laundering efforts. It installed monitoring systems for operations that had grown unwieldy during the bank's U.S. expansion. The aim, as HSBC said in an agreement with regulators ... Continue reading →

By Nadia Damouni NEW YORK | Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:32am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A series of technology companies, including security software maker Palo Alto Networks, are preparing to go public on the heels of Facebook's $5-billion filing, sensing a window of opportunity as the stock market rallies. Technology management software maker ServiceNow, human resources software provider Workday, machine data software company Splunk and flash memory maker Violin Memory are also in various stages of planning public offerings this year, sources familiar with the matter said.These companies are expected to be valued at $1 billion and higher, they said.Palo Alto Networks, the largest of these firms, is expected to start the process of picking bankers as soon as this week to underwrite its ... Continue reading →

By Jonathan Stempel Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:57pm EST (Reuters) - BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc, a large Florida bank that once sued an industry analyst for defamation, and its chief executive were charged by a U.S. regulator with defrauding investors as problems mounted in a commercial real estate portfolio tied to residential housing. Wednesday's civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prompted a combative response by Alan Levan, BankAtlantic's chairman and chief executive, who said that when the case is over, "the SEC's credibility as a neutral enforcer of securities laws will be tarnished."The case arose from BankAtlantic loans made on large tracts of land intended for the development of single-family homes and condominiums. Florida is among the U.S. states hardest hit by the ... Continue reading →

None Continue reading →

A rare sight in Seattle: A snow needle in front of the Space Needle. http://t.co/OVj0vi2Y Continue reading →

In MF Global, JPMorgan again at center of a financial failure By Carrick Mollenkamp, Lauren Tara LaCapra and Matthew Goldstein carrick goldstein jpmorgan lacapra lauren matthew mollenkamp tara Found less than 1 hour ago on channel Reuters Insight: The madness of Wall Street By Matthew Goldstein, Lauren Tara LaCapra, Jennifer Ablan and Joseph Giannone ablan giannone goldstein jennifer joseph lacapra lauren madness matthew street tara wall Found more than 1 month ago on channel Reuters Continue reading →

LONDON | Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:28am EST LONDON Jan 16 (Reuters) - Stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia is insured for 405 million euros ($513 million) by insurers including XL and RSA, with specialist marine insurers providing additional cover for potential injury claims, industry sources said. The Costa, a multistorey vessel carrying over 4,000 passengers and crew, ran aground and capsized off Italy's west coast at the weekend, killing at least five and injuring dozens.RSA and XL could not immediately be reached.Analyst Joy Ferneyhough at Espirito Santo bank in London said injury and other liability claims could push the total cost to insurers as high as $1 billion, making it the biggest marine loss ever absorbed by the industry."Initial comments from various insurers and underwriters ... Continue reading →