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JPMorgan, BofA settle LIBOR suit; Ind. banks in deal; SEC charges adviser firm

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JPMorgan, BofA settle LIBOR suit; Ind. banks in deal; SEC charges adviser firm

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. have offered to pay $1.5 million each to settle their parts in a multidistrict class-action lawsuit against them for allegedly conspiring to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, Law360 reports. The complainants, Berkshire Bank and the Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico, think the proposed settlements are reasonable as far as the two banks are concerned, according to the report.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Tallahassee, Fla.-based Cambridge Capital Group Advisors LLC and its two former principals, Phillip Howard and Don Reinhard, with defrauding 20 investors, mostly retired National Football League players, in two proprietary hedge funds operating out of Howard's law offices. Howard and Reinhard were accused of raising $4 million from the retired NFL players, about half of whom rolled over their NFL 401(k) accounts to the hedge funds. But instead of investing the funds in various instruments as promised, the defendants invested the funds almost exclusively in settlement advance loans to more than 70 of Howard's NFL class-action clients.

Michael Hild, the founder, former CEO and controlling shareholder of the now-defunct Live Well Financial Inc. in Richmond, Va., was arrested Aug. 29 over an alleged scheme to deceive the mortgage loan originator's lenders by fraudulently inflating the value of the firm's mortgage-backed bonds by over $140 million. The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Live Well and Hild with perpetuating the bond mismarking scheme against the company's short-term lenders and violating the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

Sangamon County Associate Judge Jack Davis dismissed a petition that sought to invalidate over $14 billion of bonds issued by the state of Illinois, Bloomberg News reports. John Tillman, head of conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute, and New York-based hedge fund Warlander Asset Management LP's petition sought to restrain and enjoin the disbursement of public funds as they argued that the state's 2003 pension bond sale and 2017 debt issuance were deficit financing and thus, violated the state constitution. Davis, however, decided that allowing the complaint to be filed would cause an "unjustified interference with the application of public funds," according to the report.

The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians asked a New York state court to dismiss a suit filed against the California tribe by Wells Fargo & Co. accusing the tribe of evading payments on a $250 million loan for its casino through a refinancing scheme with Chukchansi Economic Development Authority, a tribe-affiliated lender, Law360 reports. In the suit, which also names Chukchansi Economic Development Authority as a defendant, Wells Fargo argued that the parties allegedly plotted a scheme to withhold cash payments that should go toward $250 million in secured notes for which the bank serves as the indenture trustee. However, the California tribe has claimed that its refinancing of the loan was legitimate and that the agreement on the loan does not allow the bank to file a lawsuit.

In Indiana, FCN Banc Corp. is acquiring DSA Financial Corp. in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

Elsewhere in Oklahoma, Republic Bank & Trust is merging with Armstrong Bank, The Norman (Okla.) Transcript reports. Both banks are units of Ironhorse Financial Group Inc. The deal is set to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

In a CNBC report, Dick Bove, chief strategist at Odeon Capital Group LLC, cautioned banks against the urge to sell the loans they own instead of making new ones. JPMorgan Chase is one bank that has followed this strategy of selling rather than originating loans, but if too many banks follow suit, it may push the U.S. economy into recession, Bove said.

Canadian banks remain hesitant to provide services to the cannabis industry, despite the Canadian government legalizing the use of recreational cannabis in 2018, according to Fitch Ratings. Risks such as increased compliance considerations and cross-border anti-money laundering regulations will continue to limit opportunities for Canadian and U.S. banks to lend and provide advisory services to cannabis companies over the medium term, the rating agency said.

In other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: SBI unit seeks 80B rupees in IPO; Singapore opens digital bank applications

Europe: BNP eyes Deutsche's equity derivatives; UBS eyes 3 CEO candidates; Amigo's woes

Middle East & Africa: Equity Group mulls fintech unit's fate; 2 Nigerian banks to merge

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First Midwest Bancorp keeping an eye on deposit costs, ag lending: Analysts expect community bank M&A in the Midwest to stay active as companies look to fill in geographic gaps and gain scale.

Car loan penetration climbs at US credit unions in Q2 after Q1 dip : Penetration of vehicle loans at U.S. credit unions resumed growth in the second quarter after a rare decline in the first quarter.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng inched up 0.08% to 25,724.73, and the Nikkei 225 rose 1.19% to 20,704.37.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.65% to 7,231.22, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.97% to 1,067.18.

On the macro front

The personal income and outlays report, the Chicago PMI, the consumer sentiment report, the farm prices report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count report are due out today.

Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

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