Four of Nation’s Biggest Banks Pass Federal Reserve Stress Test

According to the Federal Reserve, four of the largest names on Wall Street have passed the Federal Reserve’s “Stress Test”.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley were all green lighted to be able to return income to their investors, although they were required to adjust their initial requests to insure that they had sufficient capital, according to By contrast, the Bank of America got only conditional approval to return capital to its shareholders, due to “certain weaknesses” that the Federal Reserve found.

Since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008, the nation’s largest banks have faced regulators continuing to raise their capital requirements, in order to make the financial system more resilient and better able to withstand losses. According to The Wall Street Journal, one of the changes that this has made in the way banks conduct their business is to force them to use less borrowed money and more of their investor funds, on the theory that equity infusions cannot flee as quickly when market turmoil occurs. The Wall Street Journal quoted the Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, who is the System’s leading figure on regulatory issues, as stating that:

“Our capital plan review helps insure that the capital distribution plans of large banks will not compromise their ability to continue lending to businesses and households even during a period of serious regulatory stress.”

According to USA Today, the “thumbs up” the Federal Reserve has given to the nation’s top lenders resulted “within minutes” in at least nine major banks increasing their quarterly dividends or announcing stock repurchase plans. However, according to USA Today, two foreign banks Deutsche Bank and Santander Holdings both had their capital spending plans rejected by the Fed. For Santander, it was the second year in a row that they had flunked the Fed’s test.

Doral Financial in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

According to Reuters the Doral Financial Corporation filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Based in Puerto Rico, Doral has assets of up to $100,000,000.00 and declared liabilities of up to $500,000,000.00.

The Debtor announced that it will use the bankruptcy process to wind down its businesses and liquidate its assets.   It will seek approval for a plan of liquidation, according to PR Newswire.

Doral is the holding company for various subsidiaries, including Doral Insurance Agency and Doral Properties, which have not as yet filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.