Business - Banking Industry

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a second quarter profit of $2.72 billion, a 36 percent jump that easily surpassed expectations as strength in its core consumer and investment banking businesses offset a jump in credit losses.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co said investment banking and trading drove a larger-than-expected 36 percent jump in quarterly profit despite a surge in credit card and loan losses that could worsen.

WASHINGTON - Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he was justified last year in suggesting that Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive could lose his job if the bank backed out on plans to buy troubled Merrill Lynch.

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp is operating under a secret U.S. regulatory sanction that requires it to overhaul its board and address perceived problems with risk and liquidity management, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

NEW YORK - Regions Financial Corp. says its investment banking subsidiary and three employees received notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission that the regulator is investigating possible violations of federal securities laws.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Wednesday filed civil charges for insider trading against 11 people, including a 26-year-old former Goldman Sachs Group Inc investment banking analyst accused of leaking confidential merger information to his brother.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that he acted appropriately in warning Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis that top executives could be ousted if they walked away from a merger with Merrill Lynch.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says in prepared congressional testimony that he told Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis the Federal Reserve could oust the bank's management and board if they walked away from a planned merger with Merrill Lynch.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc said quarterly earnings surged 33 percent on blowout trading results, trouncing forecasts and putting the bank on pace for hefty bonuses that could draw unwanted scrutiny.

TOKYO - Asian markets sprang back to life Tuesday, invigorated by fresh hopes for improved bank earnings and signs the regional economy is recovering. European shares were moderately higher.

NEW YORK - Regulators on Friday shut Bank of Wyoming, marking the 53rd failure this year of a federally insured bank.

NEW YORK - Citigroup Inc. shuffled its top management again Thursday, naming its third chief financial officer of the year and bringing in a new head of its Citibank division as it returns its focus to traditional banking.

WASHINGTON - The government has tens of billions of dollars left in the eye-popping $700 billion bank bailout fund created last fall, prompting a debate in Congress over what to do with it.

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England cut the pace at which it pumps money into Britain's economy on Thursday after unexpectedly deciding not to expand its 125 billion pound ($204 billion) asset buying scheme, raising fears it may stop purchases completely.

LONDON - The Bank of England kept its key interest rate on hold at a record low 0.5 percent Thursday and surprise markets by saying it would not for the moment seek to expand its 125 billion pound cash injection into the British economy.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co are switching some customers who have fixed-rate credit cards to potentially higher variable rates, acting before a new law takes effect that limits what card issuers can charge.

NEW YORK - After taking multibillion-dollar bailouts from the federal government, some of the nation's biggest banks are declining to lend a hand with a different financial mess: the California budget stalemate.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Soaring U.S. unemployment and a shrinking economy drove delinquencies on credit card debt and home equity loans to all-time highs in the first quarter as a record number of cash-strapped consumers fell behind on their bills.