%1

Accounting for revenue will be significantly changed in 2017, the two boards that set accounting standards for companies in most major countries around the world announced today, the New York Times reported. The new rules — issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets rules for United States companies, and the International Accounting Standards Board, whose rules are used in the European Union as well as a number of other countries — replace those specifying how and when revenue can be recognized in different industries. Those rules sometimes differed among countries, and often differed among industries.The new rules will take effect for companies that are on calendar years at the beginning of 2017. American companies will not be able to make the changes earlier, but the international board will allow that, in part because some countries are likely to move from national rules to international standards before 2017, and it would not make sense to force them to change twice.

Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that it had resubmitted its smaller stress-test capital plan to the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The announcement is the latest step as the bank navigates the aftermath of a $4 billion capital error it disclosed last month. The error, disclosed April 28, forced the bank to suspend its plans for returning capital to shareholders, and the Fed had given it until Tuesday to submit a new plan. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank gave few new details yesterday about the resubmitted plan. It confirmed that the new request is smaller than the original — the bank had previously received permission to buy back up to $4 billion of its own shares and expand its quarterly dividend to 5 cents from 1 cent — but gave no specifics.

The hunt for money hidden in Swiss bank accounts by U.S. citizens has become a global chase, with prosecutors tracing records to Singapore, the Cook Islands and elsewhere as U.S. authorities increase the pressure on Swiss lenders to turn over evidence, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Kathryn Keneally, head of the Justice Department's tax division, said that in the wake of a guilty plea to criminal charges by Credit Suisse Group AG , the U.S. expects to collect more evidence pointing to suspect accounts beyond Switzerland's borders. Credit Suisse, which last week pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle allegations it helped wealthy Americans hide money from the Internal Revenue Service, has agreed to turn over some bank records that can help U.S. authorities track down individual account holders across the globe.

TGI Fridays, the restaurant chain known for its burgers, steaks and chicken wings, has found new owners in private-equity firms Sentinel Capital Partners and TriArtisan Capital Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The sale of the global restaurant chain by hospitality firm Carlson Restaurants Inc. values Fridays at more than $800 million, including debt, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal is expected to be completed by July. Fridays, which began as a single restaurant in New York in 1965, was acquired by Carlson a decade later after adding just 11 locations. Today, more than 70,000 staff work in the brand's more-than 900 owned and franchised restaurants.

Wall Street banks are financing more private-equity takeovers with high levels of debt, despite warnings by regulators to reduce the amount of risky loans they make, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last year issued guidance urging banks to avoid financing leveraged buyouts in most industries that would put debt on a company of more than six times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). The Fed and the OCC also told banks to limit borrowing agreements that stretch out payment timelines or don't contain lender protections known as covenants. Still, 40 percent of U.S. private-equity deals this year have used leverage above that six-times ratio deemed the upper acceptable limit by regulators, according to data compiled by S&P Capital IQ LCD. That is the highest percentage since the prefinancial-crisis peak of 52 percent of buyout loans in 2007. Such lending all but disappeared during the crisis but has risen each year since 2009.

Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn is allowing Jon Corzine and other former insiders of collapsed brokerage MF Global to tap another $10 million of insurance funds to defend lawsuits accusing them of hastening the firm's downfall, Reuters reported yesterday. Judge Glenn granted the request from Corzine and the others at a court hearing, raising to $40 million from $30 million the cap on what the defendants can draw. Judge Glenn authorized roughly $3.7 million more to pay the legal fees of defendants no longer involved in the cases. However, Judge Glenn was clearly irked at the request, saying he had expected the initial $30 million to cover most of the litigation.

Credit Suisse AG agreed to pay $2.6 billion in penalties and pleaded guilty to helping Americans cheat on their taxes, making it the first global bank in a decade to admit to a crime in a U.S. courtroom, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The plea also signals a tougher posture by the Justice Department, which has faced criticism that it avoided pursuing large banks after the 2008 financial crisis because of the potential economic fallout. The firm said the deal will cut second-quarter earnings by 1.6 billion francs ($1.79 billion). “This case shows that no financial institution, no matter its size or global reach, is above the law,” Attorney General Eric Holder said. The bank will pay $1.8 billion to the U.S., which includes almost $670 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. The penalty also involves a $715 million payment to New York’s Department of Financial Services and $100 million to the Federal Reserve.

Credit Suisse Group AG is close to reaching an agreement to plead guilty and pay about $2.5 billion to the U.S. Justice Department and regulators to resolve investigations into whether it helped Americans evade taxes, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The Zurich-based bank would pay about $1.7 billion to the Justice Department, at least $600 million to the New York Department of Financial Services and $100 million to the Federal Reserve. The proposed accord could be announced as early as next week.

Residential Capital LLC, the defunct mortgage company, sued Bank of America NA, RBC Mortgage Co. and other lenders, claiming they sold it poor-quality loans that led to its bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. ResCap filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after investors who bought mortgage-backed bonds claimed they were loaded with faulty loans. It was liquidated to resolve more than $100 billion in potential lawsuits. In lawsuits filed on Tuesday in bankruptcy court, ResCap said that it is seeking to recover “billions of dollars in liabilities and losses” over the “defective” loans. It wants the banks held responsible for more than 24 lawsuits alleging ResCap securitized bad loans, as well as for hundreds of claims, including securities fraud and breach of warranty, that it faced in bankruptcy.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge signed off on the sale of some €15 billion ($20.6 billion) of soured loans on the books of what was once one of Ireland’s largest banks as the country digs out from the wreckage of its collapsed property market, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi on Tuesday approved Irish Bank Resolution Corp.’s (IBRC) sale of the loan portfolios at a court hearing. IBRC, a state-backed bank liquidating the former Anglo Irish Bank Corp., is selling the bad loans at a discount to a group of distressed-debt buyers, including affiliates of Lone Star Funds, Deutsche Bank AG, and Goldman Sachs Group. Liquidators sought approval from the U.S. bankruptcy judge because of ties that some of the loans have to the U.S. Such ties include properties located in the U.S., or a borrower who is a U.S. resident or has become one since the loan was made. The green light from Judge Sontchi allows the sales to go through free of liens, claims and encumbrances as part of a chapter 15 bankruptcy proceeding in the U.S. that is linked to the Irish recovery.