A White House consultant’s report said Friday that the Energy Department should bolster its ability to assess loan guarantee risks in the wake of the Solyndra bankruptcy, and urged the department to “aggressively strengthen its position” before more borrowers turn to the government for relief. Read full article > >

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Consultant suggests changes to Energy Department’s loan reviews in the wake of Solyndra

Gabe Sherman argues that Dodd-Frank has already ended Wall Street as we know it. So how did MF Global go up in flames last year? The brokerage firm’s bankruptcy was mostly the outcome of failed, risky bets it placed through complex derivatives, and it lost an estimated $1.2 billion of its customers’ money in the process. After raising this issue on Monday, I got a call from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who argued that MF Global’s demise wasn’t a sign that Dodd-Frank had failed to regulate derivatives in a comprehensive way. Read full article > >

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Barney Frank: MF Global bankruptcy wasn’t Dodd-Frank’s fault

After days of agonizing negotiations, Greek politicians have reached a deal to make a sweeping series of cuts that they hope will secure an international bailout and help the debt-ridden nation avoid bankruptcy, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s office said on Thursday. Read full article > >

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Greek officials reach austerity deal that could pave way for bailout

As MF Global careened toward bankruptcy in October, the brokerage firm used customer funds to bankroll its business, apparently assuming that the money would be put back by the end of each day, a trustee overseeing the firm’s liquidation reported Monday. Read full article > >

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Trustee says MF Global sustained itself on customer funds

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of Russians embraced the numbing cold and marched to a frozen river bank near the Kremlin Saturday, demonstrating their determination to keep up the pressure on Vladimir V. Putin for fair elections and honest government. Read full article > >

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Russians in thousands give Putin the cold shoulder

The state attorney general asserted that fraudulent use of the tracking system allowed Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase to avoid the need for recording mortgage transfers.

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New York Suing 3 Banks Over Mortgage Database

The chairman of 82% taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) says banker pay has been “high for too long” and needs to be corrected.

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RBS boss calls for pay correction

Ed Miliband calls for a culture of “one nation banking” in which financial institutions are not “isolated” from the rest of the economy and society.

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Miliband ‘one nation’ bank call

Criminal hackers have found ways around new security devices used for online banking, the BBC has learned.

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Hackers fool bank security system

Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Fred Goodwin, heavily criticised over the bank’s near collapse, loses his knighthood.

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Goodwin stripped of knighthood

The amount of non-mortgage borrowing held by consumers fell in December by the largest amount on record, £377m, the Bank of England says.

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Record fall in personal borrowing

The amount of non-mortgage borrowing held by consumers fell in December by the largest amount on record, £377m, the Bank of England says.

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Record fall in personal borrowing

Labour leader Ed Miliband says private banks – as well as the part-publicly owned RBS and Lloyds TSB – should be forced to change the way they award bonuses.

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Change bonus rules, says Miliband

Labour leader Ed Miliband says private banks – as well as the part-publicly owned RBS and Lloyds TSB – should be forced to change the way they award bonuses.

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Change bonus rules, says Miliband

A former UBS trader, Kweku M. Adoboli, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of fraud and false accounting that led to a $2.3 billion trading loss at the Swiss bank last year.

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DealBook: Former UBS Trader Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud