Zerohedge:

Suspected metals fraud in China sparked claims of betrayal by both U.S. bank Citigroup and trade house Mercuria over who would absorb about $270 million in exposure to financing deals, a London court heard this week.

The dispute:

Mercuria held copper and aluminium in Chinese warehouses and agreed a series of deals that were effective loans from Citi using the metal as collateral.

Under the repurchasing agreements, or repos, Citi agreed to purchase metal from Mercuria before selling it back at a slightly higher price to include interest on the effective loans.

The two groups were in the midst of several repo deals when the potential fraud in China was uncovered in warehouses in both Qingdao and Penglai. Citi demanded early repayment of the repos and Mercuria refused.

As Bloomberg reports,

Citigroup was in a “state of panic” when alleged fraud was uncovered in two Chinese ports…

Approximately one million homeowners whose mortgage has already been modified under the Home Affordable Modification Program are now eligible for increased benefits as the government continues its push to aid struggling homeowners.

Under the modified HAMP guidelines, announced Thursday in a joint statement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, all homeowners in the HAMP program will now be eligible to earn an additional $5,000 in the sixth year of their modification.

Prior to the change, homeowners in the HAMP program were eligible to earn up to $5,000 over the first five years of their modification, which is applied in repayment of their outstanding principal balance.

The newly established guidelines will provide an additional $5,000 to borrowers in the sixth year, which will allow borrowers to reduce their outstanding principal balance by as much as $10,000.

Read on.

WASHINGTON — Wall Street lobbyists are trying to secure taxpayer backing for many derivatives trades as part of budget talks to avert a government shutdown.

According to multiple Democratic sources, banks are pushing hard to include the controversial provision in funding legislation that would keep the government operating after Dec. 11. Top negotiators in the House are taking the derivatives provision seriously, and may include it in the final bill, the sources said.

The bank perks are not a traditional budget item. They would allow financial institutions to trade certain financial derivatives from subsidiaries that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — potentially putting taxpayers on the hook for losses caused by the risky contracts. Big Wall Street banks had typically traded derivatives from these FDIC-backed units, but the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law required them to move many of the transactions to other subsidiaries that are not…

Benjamin Lawsky, a relatively unknown New York State regulator, has put the fast-growing non-bank mortgage servicing industry’s business model in jeopardy. Look no further than Ocwen Financial for proof of a servicing segment that remains marred in uncertainty.

Ocwen is reeling following a dispute with Lawsky that killed a promising a $39 billion acquisition of Wells Fargo’s servicing rights. News of the cancelled deal in mid-November sent the company’s shares down as much as 67 percent from their 52-week high. The stock has recovered slightly, but is still off more than 50 percent from a December 2013 high of $58.07.

Now, investors are left wondering whether the servicer – likened to a shark – will be allowed to continue feeding on new mortgages.

Read on.

This is not a surprise to me as I was told by a financial analyst in the ’90’s that there would be four banks that would control the GDP in this country. Wells Fargo and Bank of America were the ones mentioned.

The wreckage of the financial crisis led to pages upon pages of financial reform aimed at ending the era of Too Big To Fail, but six years after the banking system blew up the five biggest firms control 44% of the $15.3 trillion in assets held by U.S. banks according to data compiledby SNL Financial. Those banks — JPMorgan ChaseJPM-0.42%, Bank of AmericaBAC-0.67%, Wells FargoWFC+0.11%, CitigroupC-0.31% and US BancorpUSB+0.23% — collectively held $6.8 trillion in assets as of Sept. 30.

JPMorgan holds just over $2 trillion in assets, or 13.1% of the industry’s total…

Abraham Lincoln is well known for being our 16th president and a resident of Illinois, but his story starts in Kentucky—where he was born and from where his family was forced to move due to land title issues.

Read on watch video below.

http://video.firstam.tv/previews/FztPdwZE-h9oGcqo5