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• Hedge Funds Up Bets Against Italy's Monte Paschi

  London hedge funds Odey Asset Management and Egerton Capital are among those upping their bets against Monte dei Paschi di Siena in recent days, after revelations the troubled Italian bank faces heavy losses.

• Bank of America Plagued by Online, Mobile Outages

  BAC experienced widespread outages Friday on its website and mobile banking apps due to an internal technical malfunction, according to a person familiar with the situation.

• Banks Left Behind? 

  

  Despite gains in 2012, CNBC's Kayla Tausche reports the banks are the worst performing sector since 2007 market highs. AIG was the single worst performer down more than 96 percent.

• Big Money Managers Riding the Dow Rally

  

  Long before the Dow hit 14,000, a number of big money managers predicted the rally—and have ridden it to handsome returns.

• Barclays CEO Won't Take a 2012 Bonus

  

  New Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins said he will not take a bonus for last year, saying he should "bear an appropriate degree of accountability" for a difficult year at the bank.

• Dutch in $14 Billion Rescue for SNS Reaal

  

  The Netherlands has nationalized bank and insurance group SNS Reaal in a $14 billion rescue that highlights the fragility of European banks and the continued exposure of taxpayers five years after the financial crisis erupted.

• Rome Court Summons Bank of Italy Over Monte Paschi

  

  A court in Rome has summoned Bank of Italy officials for questioning on the state bailout of Monte dei Paschi, as scandal spread over the trading that plunged the world's oldest bank into trouble.

• Morgan Stanley CEO Gets Pay Raise to $1.5 Million

  

  Morgan Stanley said Chief Executive James Gorman will receive a base salary of $1.5 million in 2013, nearly double the $800,000 he received last year.

• Deutsche Bank Improved Its Capital Ratio By Changing Risk Measures

  

  The German banking giant said Thursday that its capital ratio improved by more than projected. So how did this happen?

• Olick: 2013's Best and Worst Foreclosure Deals 

  

  After improving in 2011, foreclosures ramped up again in 2012, and will likely continue to rise as banks clear out backlogs of distressed loans. More than half of the top 200 U.S. housing markets saw foreclosure numbers rise, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, reports CNBC's Diana Olick.

• Retail Investors Moving Back to Stocks: TD Ameritrade CEO

  

  Now that the Dow Jones is flirting with all-time highs, retail investors can still enjoy additional gains, TD Ameritrade executives told the company's annual conference in San Diego on Thursday.

• Is a Strong January a Good Sign for Markets?

  

  With the Dow Jones industrial average on track for its best January since 1989 and the S&P 500 off to its fastest start since 1997, one of Wall Street's most-accurate prediction tools, the January Barometer, is flashing a green light for stocks.

• Greenberg: It's the Stocks You Don't Own That Matter

  

  The Forensic Accounting ETF launches today. The fund spotlights a concept that is often woefully overlooked.

• Deutsche Bank Co-CEO Anshu Jain: We Have Made Enormous Progress on Core Tier-One Capital
• Start the 'Rocky' Music—Structured Finance Is Back

  

  Structured finance deals of a type last seen before the financial crisis are set to come back in 2013, according to market experts, signaling a return to the credit boom in 2004.

• Bank CEOs Say Trading Curbs Will Stifle French Economy

  

  The heads of France's top three banks said tougher laws to curb risky trading would put the country at a competitive disadvantage as it struggles with record unemployment and a grim economic outlook.

• Death of the Refi? 

  

  Refinances dropped 10 percent this week, reports CNBC's Diana Olick. Mortgage bankers said the rate on the 30-year fixed moved up from 3.62 percent to 3.67 percent.

• Sigtarp's Quarterly Report to Congress 

  

  CNBC's Mary Thompson reports Sigtarp's quarterly report says it is too early to tell if Dodd-Frank eliminates "too big to fail," and that financial firms remain too interconnected.

• MF Global’s Bankruptcy Nears a Happy Conclusion

  

  A bankruptcy court will soon review a proposal that would return 93 percent of MF Global's missing money, and another proposal could plug the remaining shortfall for U.S. customers, sources said. The NYT reports.

• French Lawmakers to Quiz Bank Bosses

  The heads of France's top three banks will face questions on Wednesday from a parliamentary committee looking into proposed reforms designed to curb risky trading and beef up regulatory oversight.