Wells Fargo has agreed to pay US authorities US$1.2 billion to settle a claim that it improperly approved loans for federal mortgage insurance, the BBC reports. The bank was accused of wrongly certifying loans between 2001 and 2010 so they would receive government-backed insurance. The US Justice Department sued the bank after paying out claims on defaulted loans, claiming the loans did not meet the required standard for certification. Consumer finance company OneMain Financial (formerly CitiFinancial) priced a US$500 million securitisation deal backed by a pool of personal loan yesterday (US time), with the US$353 million A Class notes meeting the pre-sale guidance of 270 basis points over the benchmark rate. This tranche had a WAL of 3.48 years and was rated A+ by S&P. This is the first consumer ABS deal of 2016. Last year, the sector saw approximately US$6 billion in issuance, according to Bloomberg and S&P. The European Central Bank is working on a plan to allow consumers to transfer money using their phone numbers or email addresses rather than a complicated bank account number online tech news service ZDNet reports. In a radio interview with Netherland-based RTL Nieuws, ECB executive board member Yves Mersch said a steering committee had been set up to work on the plan with major European banks. Mersch was unclear when the system would be ready, but said the chief obstacles were legal, not technical.