Regulation

FINRA set guidelines for the first time for how banks in the U.S. should perform due diligence on brokers who sell their structured notes.

The passage last night by wide margins -- an 81-18 vote in the Democratic-led Senate, followed by a 285-144 vote in the Republican-controlled House -- allows the U.S. to avoid default and ends the shutdown that began Oct. 1 and has taken $24 billion out of the U.S. economy.

Stockbrokers routinely succeeded in erasing settlements of customer complaints from their regulatory records in the wake of 2008’s market turmoil, making it harder for investors to research the money managers, a group of plaintiffs lawyers said.

The agreement would end the 16-day-old government shutdown and extend U.S. borrowing authority, which lapses tomorrow. House Republicans today signaled that they will allow it to pass. The biggest remaining question is how quickly the agreement could become law. The first votes could be held as soon as today.

The firm must turn over internal gender-bias complaints by female workers to lawyers representing women in a lawsuit alleging the firm discriminated against them in pay and promotions.

The deal, which would bring the bank’s total settlements in the episode to more than $1 billion, may be announced as early as this week.

The fiscal showdown in Washington entered its final stages as the House and Senate prepared competing plans that would end the 15-day-old government shutdown and prevent the U.S. from missing promised payments.

SEC Chairman Mary Jo White said the agency will review corporate disclosure rules to root out requirements that may be causing “information overload” for investors.

Hector Sants, head of compliance and government, is to take a temporary leave of absence because of “exhaustion and stress” less than a year into the job.

Julie Stackhouse at the St. Louis Fed admits that some regulators who once questioned the role of smaller institutions are now committed to hearing their concerns and making improvements.