Lawsky seen as `Cowboy Regulator' in StanChart case

Chris Skinner, director of the Financial Services Club, discusses the money-laundering probes into Standard Chartered overseen by Benjamin Lawsky, head of the New York Department of Financial Services. He speaks with Maryam Nemazee on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse."

Bank of America launches online and mobile cash back deals program

Bank of America is launching its online and mobile cash back deals program called “BankAmeriDeals” across the USA. The program will allow users to click a button or tap on the screen to choose deals they want through Bank of America’s Online Banking and Mobile Banking app. Additionally, cash back deals and other rewards can be paid into customers’ accounts. 

BankAmeriDeals offers cash back deals from a number of retail categories such as discount department stores, fast food chains and casual dining restaurants.

Knight Trading loss said to be linked to dormant software

Knight Capital Group’s $440 million trading loss stemmed from old computer software that was inadvertently reactivated when a new program was installed, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Knight Capital’s computers bombarded the market with unintended orders just after trading began on August 1st, causing volume to surge and prices to swing in dozens of securities.

Once triggered the dormant system started multiplying stock trades by one thousand, according to the people, who requested anonymity because the firm hasn’t commented publicly on what caused the error. Knight’s staff looked through eight sets of software before determining what happened, the people said.

This report from Bloomberg.

Fixing Libor

Martin Wheatley, head of an independent review set up by the UK Government into Libor, has published a discussion paper setting out initial proposals for reforming the current framework for setting and governing Libor. The review panel is now seeking feedback from all stakeholders over the next four weeks and sets out initial analysis on:

• the role that Libor play in financial markets; 
• the flaws in the current structure of setting Libor, its governance and oversight; and 
• a range of options for reform, including the issue of transition. 

The discussion paper, open for consultation until 7 September, can be downloaded at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/condoc_wheatley_review.pdf

Speaking on the paper Mr. Wheatley said: “It is clear that regardless of the outcome of ongoing international investigations, trust in a vital part of the financial system has been badly damaged and timely action is needed to repair it. Today, we are taking the first step in this process by launching the Wheatley Review discussion paper, which seeks responses from a wide range of market experts and international stakeholders. This review aims to ensure that LIBOR is reformed in whichever way fully restores credibility and trust.”

Financial Secretary to the UK Treasury Mark Hoban said: "This discussion paper demonstrates that we will give regulators the powers they need to prevent the manipulation of key benchmark rates in the future. This review will report by the end of the summer in time for any necessary changes to be taken forward in legislation. The Government is also working with its international partners to inform the international work in this area and work towards a globally consistent solution.”

How to look and act like a leader

Daniel Roth, executive editor at LinkedIn Corp., talks about this week's top shared stories on the professional networking site. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop."

The United States and the Money Laundering Process

Stratfor Tactical Analyst Ben West explains the reasons and process for money laundering in the United States and how it relates to the recent Standard Chartered Bank laundering scandal.

Nuance Interactive Natural Assistant (Nina)

Online army bank USAA is going to add a new speech-based virtual assistant developed by Nuance Communications to its mobile app.

Nuance Interactive Natural Assistant (Nina) is a Siri-like virtual tool, that offers speech recognition, text-to-speech, voice biometrics and natural language understanding for mobile customer service apps.

Developers can use an open SDK to add the virtual assistant technology to their apps, branding their own persona, including the visual appearance and optional custom Text-to-speech voices.

First to use it is online army bank USAA, which will initially pilot Nina within its mobile app before introducing it to all members early next year.

Watch Nina at work.