Citi May Need Extra $10B to Pass Stress Test

But Fed chief is encouraged by bank response

(NEWSER) - Big banks' response to "stress tests" has been encouraging but they will need to watch out for risks not covered by the tests, Ben Bernanke warned regulators yesterday. The Fed chief—signaling that investment giants like Goldman Sachs can expect tighter scrutiny—said banks should self-test for potentially disastrous "operational, liquidity and reputational risks," Bloomberg reports. Bernanke warned that the financial situation remained fragile, and that the government was prepared to inject more capital to shore up the system. More»

(NEWSER) - At the behest of the Federal Reserve, the 19 biggest US banks are projecting their losses on 12 categories of financial product such as loans and mortgage securities, the New York Times reports. The Fed, which asked the institutions to project a hypothetical scenario of a “stressed economic environment,” made outlines of its criteria public today. More»

Citigroup, SunTrust among those that failed

(NEWSER) - The Federal Reserve released the results of its latest round of stress tests at the nation's biggest banks, and they're generally being received as good news. Fifteen of the 19 banks passed, which is what outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post are highlighting in the the first paragraph. But the AP and Bloomberg opt to focus on the four that failed, and each singles out Citigroup in the opening paragraph. (The three other banks that failed to impress were SunTrust, MetLife, and Ally Financial.) More»

Bank takes big stride towards meeting 'stress test' condition

(NEWSER) - Bank of America has sold shares to fill $13.5 billion of the $34 billion capital hole the Fed's "stress test" uncovered in the bank's balance sheet, Marketwatch reports. The bank—taking advantage of a 40% jump in its share price over the last month—issued 1.25 billion shares at an average price of $10.77 as part of its "at-the-market" program, which sold shares at or near prevailing prices. More»

(NEWSER) - In the wake of reports that complaining banks cajoled the Federal Reserve into sweetening some stress test results, the Wall Street Journal looks at the hard numbers. Citigroup, for example, was originally supposed to raise $35 billion; the number eventually released was $5.5 billion. The total for Bank of America, meanwhile, shrank from more than $50 billion to $33.9 billion. More»