Banco Santander's American sub is in trouble.  Big trouble with the government.  Supervisors think it is undercapitalized, doesn't adequately keep track of its money, and is led badly.  The Wall Street Journal put the story about their concerns on A1.

So, what's next?  A takeover?  A fine?  A lawsuit?

The Federal Reserve issued a stinging lecture to Spanish bank Banco Santander SA,faulting the lender’s U.S. unit for failing to meet regulators’ standards on a range of basic business operations.

Oh.  A lecture.  Well that doesn't...

The Fed didn’t fine the bank but reserved the right to do so later and required the bank to write a series of remedial plans.

So a warning or whatever...

the Fed had already scolded Santander for paying an unauthorized dividend earlier in 2014 without the Fed’s required permission.

[Santander CEO] Ms. Botín spoke for 15 minutes by phone with [Fed Governor] Mr. Tarullo on Nov. 10.

She met with him again in Washington on Dec. 10, when they talked privately for an hour

Oh, and meetings.  Still, there have been resignations and promises to change the whole governance structure of the company.  So these talking-tos must have been absolutely hair-raising.  For drama, you really can beat bank supervision, amiright?

Administrative Law, Finance, Financial Institutions | Bookmark