Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq

BREAKING NEWS: Seila Law LLC, Petitioner, v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (United States Supreme Court Opinion)

Chase Bank blames 'technical issue' for customers seeing incorrect account balances / Bank says it resolved the issue as of 9 a.m. ET (Reuters Lucas Manfredi)

China Weighs Letting Big Banks Broker Deals on Wall Street Threat (Bloomberg)

Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in the U.S. shale revolution, files for bankruptcy protection (CNBC by Pippa Stevens and Brian Sullivan)

Telegram to Return $1.2 Billion to Investors and Pay $18.5 Million Penalty to Settle SEC Charges (SEC Release)

Former Lawyer And CPA Charged With Defrauding Elderly Investors (DOJ Release)

Coronavirus rekindles global trade disputes (Reuters by Philip Blenkinsop)

Mapping America's Underwater Real Estate / What happens to home prices if flood maps start measuring climate change? Millions of Americans are about to find out. (Bloomberg by Leslie Kaufman, Mira Rojanasakul, Hayley Warren, Jason Kao, Brittany Harris and Prashant Gopal)

America's relationship with Germany may never be the same again, Berlin warns (CNBC by Holly Ellyatt)

We know some customers reporting seeing incorrect balances in their checking account overnight. This was caused by a technical issue that delayed updates on what displayed on Chase Mobile & Chase Online. We resolved this issue as of 9AM ET and accounts now show current balances.

9:53 AM · Jun 28, 2020

plans to grant such licenses initially to some of the nation's biggest lenders, including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp., on a pilot basis, said people familiar with the deliberations who asked not to be identified since the matter is private. Policy makers are also mulling amending the commercial banking law to remove the legal hurdle that has prevented lenders from diversifying into securities and futures for decades, said the people.

The potential entry of Chinese banks, which have $43 trillion in assets, into deal making and trading would increase competition for global firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, which have been expanding their operations in China and can this year petition for full control of local securities firms. It will also pose a significant threat to local rivals such as brokerage Citic Securities Co., which saw its stock tumble on the news.

Chesapeake said that $7 billion in debt will be wiped out through the restructuring. The company has secured $925 million in debtor-in-possession financing in order to continue operations during the bankruptcy process. In addition, Chesapeake has secured an agreement in principle from certain existing lenders for $2.5 billion in debt financing on emergence from bankruptcy, as well as a backstop commitment for $600 million in new equity.

[W]asserman, a former lawyer and licensed insurance agent, and Rossman, a Florida certified public accountant and licensed insurance agent, made false and fraudulent misrepresentations and concealed material information in order to convince elderly victim-investors to put their money into Wasserman's new insurance venture, "FastLife." Some victims were persuaded to liquidate traditional investments, such as annuities, and/or to borrow funds against existing life insurance policies to generate cash to invest in the venture. These victims were not told about surrender fees and other costs associated with the liquidations and, Rossman prepared income tax returns for victim-investors in a manner designed to conceal negative personal tax consequences that resulted from the liquidations from both the victim-investors and the Internal Revenue Service. Wasserman paid Rossman a percentage of the victim-investors' money as compensation for his role in the conspiracy. Wasserman also used victim-investors' money to make payments to earlier victim-investors in the FastLife venture, as well to as victim-investors in his earlier hedge fund and real estate fund ventures. Wasserman spent a significant amount of the victim-investors' money to finance a lavish lifestyle that included luxury residences, high-end vehicles, jet skis, jewelry,  entertainment, gambling, retail shopping, home improvements, personal insurance, and many other expenses for his personal benefit and the benefit of family members.

Countries across the world imposed 222 exports curbs on medical supplies and medicines and in some cases food, according to Global Trade Alert, a Swiss monitoring group. For medical products, it was more than 20 times the usual level.

Those curbs are now being lifted, but the pandemic has reinforced protectionist arguments by highlighting how global supply chains can deprive people of essential medical protection and disrupt food supplies, as well as threaten jobs.

Recent academic papers have found banks are using flood information to "blue-line" neighborhoods, offering homeowners fewer or more expensive mortgage services due to more detailed understanding of risk. After big storms, research shows that banks sell off an increased percentage of mortgages in riskier areas to government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Banks are also increasingly asking for modified terms on mortgages in flood zones, such as demanding much more than 20% down at closing.

Diplomatic ties between Washington and Berlin have declined markedly in recent years and Germany's foreign minister has appeared to warn that relations between the two countries may never be the same again. 

In the biggest signal yet of how strained relations have become, Heiko Maas said this weekend that the alliance with the U.S. - which is important in terms of economics, defense and security - might not recover even if President Donald Trump's rival for the White House, Democrat Joe Biden, won the forthcoming election.

• Securities Industry Commentator
• Bill Singer