A deep-seated anxiety about how soon the Federal Reserve will raise rates has caused the widest chasm between short- and long-dated Treasury yields in 20 years.

As the biggest U.S. banks clamor to defeat Congressional measures that could break up their firms or slap a big tax on their transactions, another costly proposal is quietly gaining steam.

A U.S. congressional panel on Thursday approved a measure to open the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions to government audits, a surprise blow to the central bank's efforts to shield its independence and a signal of frustration with the central bank.

Whiel Wall Street profits have rebounded to record levels, the Street is not showing signs yet of a real employment recovery.    

Some of Goldman Sachs Group's largest shareholders have asked the company to cut the size of its bonus pool and pass along more of its profits to investors, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

The Bank of Japan upgraded its economic assessment on Friday, setting itself up for a confrontation with a government pressing for a policy response to deflation and a possible return to recession.

The state-owned Korea Development Bank (KDB) will "aggressively" consider buying Korea Exchange Bank a media report quoted KDB CEO as saying, in his first public expression of interest in the domestic rival.

Banks that are considered too large to fail should be dismantled rather than "coddled," Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said on Thursday.

Wall Street firms have started bring new workers on board, but executives claim they can't find top talent despite the thousands of professionals out of work.

In another sign that the government's emergency financial programs are being reeled in, the Treasury Department said Thursday it will auction off warrants for three banks that it acquired as part of last fall's bailouts.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that no financial firm should be able to escape regulation, and the largest institutions need oversight from a single, strong regulator.

The coroner’s report left no doubt as to the cause of death: toxic loans. That was the conclusion of a financial autopsy that federal officials performed on Haven Trust Bank, a small bank in Duluth, Ga., that collapsed last December, the New York Times reported.

The number of U.S.-dollar millionaires in China is expected to nearly double in five years, luring private bankers eager to help them invest an expected combined wealth over $7.6 trillion by 2013, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said on Thursday.

Shares of Bank of America stock rose more than 3.5 percent Wednesday after billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson told investors that he expects the stock price to almost double in the next two years.

"Until you get the small business sector back on its feet and get it vibrant, you are basically knocking out about 20 percent of the GDP," said Camden Fine, president & CEO of Independent Community Bankers of America. "And it's hard to have a robust recovery if you have 20 percent of the GDP lagging."