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Trump to pick Fifth Third exec as FDIC chief; TotalBank to sell for $528M

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Trump to pick Fifth Third exec as FDIC chief; TotalBank to sell for $528M

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Jelena McWilliams Fifth Third Bancorp's chief legal officer as FDIC chair for a five-year term, and as a board member of the regulator for the remainder of a six-year term expiring July 15, 2019.

Amid an ongoing court battle on the leadership controversy at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, former lawmakers Barney Frank and Chris Dodd — who authored the Dodd–Frank Act — have teamed up to protest Trump's appointment of Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB, American Banker reports. Mulvaney "was put there to shut the agency down and keep it from being effective," Frank said. Dodd said "the president cannot just create a director" under the 2010 federal law.

In banking news, Banco Popular Español SA is selling U.S.-based TotalBank to Chile's Banco de Crédito e Inversiones SA for approximately $528 million.

Walter Investment Management Corp. has filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to execute a prepackaged financial restructuring plan. The financial restructuring process is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2018, following which the specialty lender expects to have reduced its outstanding corporate debt by approximately $800 million and improved its financial flexibility.

On bitcoin, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said that the digital currency is a "vehicle to perpetrate fraud," and that he does not consider it to be a store of value. In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Blankfein said that the company does not have a bitcoin strategy in place, but will get to it "if it works out — and it gets more established, and it trades more like a store of value, and it doesn't move up and down 20 percent, and there is liquidity to it." He also noted the possibility of being replaced by co-CEOs once he leaves. Co-Presidents Harvey Schwartz and David Solomon are seen as potential successors.

In the fintech space, Verisk Analytics Inc. is buying Boston-based PowerAdvocate, which provides market, cost intelligence and supply chain solutions for the energy sector. Verisk is paying $200 million in cash and an earnout of up to $80 million.

And recently announced partnership with PayPal Holdings Inc. will give a big boost to robo-adviser Acorns Advisers LLC, S&P Global Market Intelligence predicts.

In other parts of the world

Asia Pacific: US blocks China's 'market economy' status bid; ANZ's unit sale may fall through

Europe: Eurogroup race on; RBS closes bad bank; Munich Re eyes €2B of annual profit

Middle East & Africa: OPEC, Russia oil cuts extended; Orange to open bank in Africa

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng decreased 0.35% to 29,074.24, while the Nikkei 225 increased 0.41% to 22,819.03.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.32% to 7,303.32, and the Euronext 100 was down 0.68% to 1,032.25.

On the macro front

The PMI manufacturing index, the ISM manufacturing index, the construction spending report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count are due out today.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 7:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.