Bank Lending Picked Up in December

The first results of the US Treasury's new monthly bank lending report are out and they say that bank lending rebounded in December. Overall, loan origination and underwriting activity were weak in October and November, but picked up in December, fueled by falling mortgage rates. Read about the results here. Still no word on how much the shadow banking system is lending...

More news from around the financial world:

• Greenspan comes out in favor of bank nationalization and says U.S. needs to do more
  
• A few Congressional Republicans joined him in putting nationalization on the table.
  
• R. Allen Stanford is accused by U.S. regulators of running a massive ongoing fraud through his Houston-based Stanford Group Co.
• A former chief accountant for the SEC thinks Madoff investors may be able to hold their auditors accountable in the fraud.
• RBS feels the heat and gets Draconian on incentive comp.