Salesforce.com Inc’s quarterly earnings and outlook disappointed investors as costs rise following a spree of acquisitions, sending its shares lower.
A Federal Reserve study on debit-card transactions undercuts complaints from the banking industry that a government cap on the fees large lenders charge merchants would result in a drop in the payments for all banks. Small banks and credit unions last year were able to charge slightly more than double the average fee of large lenders for debit-card transactions in which the customer has to sign a receipt, the Fed study found
Brazil’s National Monetary Council authorized on Thursday an increase of the coverage of the country’s FGC bank deposit guarantee fund to provide greater protection to depositors and align the country’s policies with deposit guarantee practices abroad, the council said. The move had previously been approved at a board meeting of institutions participating in the FGC fund, which is a private institution organized by Brazilian banks that offers guarantees on certain deposits and funding aid to members if necessary. The increase in the size of deposits covered, to 250,000 Brazilian reais ($122,500) per depositor, from BRL70,000 previously, brings Brazil’s guarantee level up to that in many other countries with economies similar to Brazil’s, the Council said in a note
New York-based broker-dealer Direct Access Partners has closed its doors, said a person familiar with the matter, after allegations surfaced earlier this month of a multimillion dollar Venezuelan bribery scheme involving two of its traders. Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, the firm’s clearing agent, stopped accepting trades after that probe came to light on May 8, effectively shutting the firm down, the person said. Robert Gottlieb, a criminal defense attorney from Gottlieb & Gordon, said Direct Access Partners received a grand-jury subpoena from federal prosecutors in Manhattan earlier this month related to the probe and that the firm is cooperating fully with the government
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