Finance Watch -- WSJ
August 06 2016 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
Regulation
U.S. Bancorp Being Investigated for Ties To Race-Car Driver
U.S. Bancorp disclosed in a securities filing Friday that it is
the subject of an investigation into its relationship with indicted
race-car driver Scott Tucker.
The bank said the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office is
investigating its relationship with Mr. Tucker and has asked for
information on aspects of the lender's anti-money-laundering
controls.
While U.S. Bank had previously disclosed it was cooperating with
an investigation of Mr. Tucker, it hadn't mentioned the scrutiny of
its own controls.
In February, Mr. Tucker, a businessman-turned-race-car driver,
and his lawyer were charged with overcharging customers hundreds of
millions of dollars in undisclosed fees in one of the largest
federal criminal payday-lending cases ever. Mr. Tucker had bank
accounts with U.S. Bank, the Minneapolis lender has said.
The disclosure adds to anti-money-laundering issues at U.S.
Bank. In October, it entered into a consent order with the Office
of the Comptroller of the Currency over issues with its
controls.
Under anti-money-laundering laws, banks can be penalized for
failing to spot suspicious activity running through customer
accounts. The size of such penalties have increased drastically in
recent years.
--Rachel Louise Ensign
EARNINGS
Allianz Profit Drops
FRANKFURT -- Allianz SE reported a 46% decline in profit for the
second quarter on a high disaster bill, a substantial one-time hit
from the planned sale of a unit and continuing net asset outflows
at Pimco.
The disclosure sent shares in Europe's biggest primary insurer
by market value down 4% during the session.
Still, the first-half results put the company on course for its
full-year operating profit targets. Allianz, which owns U.S. bond
fund-manager Pacific Investment Management Co., targets operating
profit between EUR10 billion ($11.1 billion) and EUR11 billion for
2016.
Net profit fell to EUR1.09 billion from EUR2.02 billion in the
year-ago period, well shy of an average forecast of EUR1.51 billion
in a Dow Jones Newswires poll. Many analysts hadn't factored in a
EUR352 million one-time hit from Allianz's planned sale of a unit
in South Korea.
--Ulrike Dauer
EUROPEAN BANKING
Cost Cutting at RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC will roll out a new
cost-cutting plan after recording a first-half net loss of more
than GBP2 billion ($2.26 billion) amid ultralow U.K. interest rates
and uncertainty over Brexit.
RBS's share price slumped more than 5% during the session Friday
as investors digested the weaker-than-expected results.
Chief Executive Ross McEwan said his executive team is working
on a new cost-cutting plan that could be presented in the first
quarter of next year. Like several other British banks, RBS warned
of lower returns after the U.K. voted to leave the European
Union.
--Max Colchester
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 06, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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