Through its banking subsidiaries, Whitney engages in commercial and retail banking and in trust business, including the taking of deposits, the making of secured and unsecured loans, the financing of commercial transactions, the issuance of credit cards, the delivery of corporate, pension and personal trust services, investment services and safe deposit rentals.

FORBES: FDIC Bags Five More Banks

As a result of exploding credit card issuance, products could be bought (with funds borrowed at usurious rates) that would become worthless long before they were ever paid off.

FORBES: Pension Consultant Shenanigans (September 4, 2004 )

German Chancellor Angela Merkel again criticizing calls for the issuance of euro-bonds and a credit rating downgrade for Portugal by Fitch Ratings damaged sentiment, while Hungary was also issued with a debt-rating cut late Thursday.

WSJ: Asia Slips on Europe Worries

Concerns over how best to report and reconcile items on the form 1099-K have plagued retailers and individuals alike since legislation was passed by Congress in 2008 requiring the issuance of forms 1099-K for third party merchant and credit card payment processing which meets certain criteria.

FORBES: IRS Continues to Weigh In on New Credit Card Reporting Requirements

The split with other central banks is not an ideological rift so much as an acknowledgment of China's very different economic reality, where even a moderate policy loosening last year led to a sharp rise in credit issuance, a pick-up in growth and, lately, the threat of inflation.

CNN: China's central bank warns on inflation