MORNING BRIEFS

Asian stocks are mostly lower as techs tumble
Asian stock markets mostly declined on Monday, led by technology stocks in the wake of poor tech stock performance in the U.S. on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.8%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was off 1.1% and South Korea's Kospi Composite Index had dropped 1.0%. But New Zealand's NZX-50 Index was up 0.4%. The Wall Street Journal (18 Oct.)

*right, and we should let them do what now? Monitor the regional and commercial mortgage market? Oh yeah, they already have that job. HOWS THAT BEEN WORKING OUT FOR YA? Ijiots!
Inspector general says FDIC failed to enforce lending guidelines
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Office of Inspector General has analyzed the agency's bank takeovers between August 2008 and March, finding that the agency did not properly enforce its own guidelines, failed to identify issues or did not take strong enough supervisory action for 20 of the 23 failed banks. "It's often we'll see in our reports that the FDIC detected problems in the bank in a timely fashion, but in some cases forceful corrective action wasn't required by the FDIC to be taken quickly enough," said Jon Rymer, the FDIC's inspector general. Bloomberg (19 Oct.)

Survey: Fraud losses for financial services have jumped
The average losses suffered by financial services businesses from fraud worldwide over the past three years surged to $15.2 million this year, an increase of 22% over the previous comparable three-year period ending in 2008, a survey found. Of the 10 sectors surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit for security firm Kroll, financial services was the hardest hit. Natural resources and construction companies saw their losses to fraud decline significantly. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (18 Oct.)

*great read
Is a larger credit crisis looming?
Economic recovery is coming slowly because the level of credit tapped by companies continues to drop, according to this article. It's a result of banks hesitating to lend and firms thinking twice before taking out loans to make investments. If the trend continues, the economy may face a larger credit crunch next year, The Economist predicts. The Economist (10/15)

Iceland to repay Netherlands and U.K. for failed bank
The government of Iceland has agreed to repay £3.5 billion to the U.K. and the Netherlands for funds lost in the failure of an Internet bank last year, the office of Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said. The announcement came after the government was able to reach an agreement to approve the bill in the country's Parliament. The repayments will be occur over a period of several years, and will reimburse consumers. The Press Association (U.K.) (18 Oct.)

Energy producers battle over climate-change bill
Energy-producing companies are embroiled in a battle over climate-change bills in Congress that include cap-and-trade provisions, analysts say. Natural gas producers are fighting with oil companies, and with coal companies over which resource should be used to produce electricity. Electrical utilities are battling over coal versus renewable-energy options, including wind power. The proposal to cap the emissions of greenhouse gases each year and allow companies to buy and sell permits to pollute has created deep divisions within the energy industry. The New York Times (18 Oct.)