RBS will also offload about its North American loans to Japan-based Mizuho Financial Group for about $3 billion. The moves are part of a restructuring plan to turn around the struggling bank, which is expected to post its seventh consecutive annual loss. CEO Ross McEwan is honing the bank's businesses in an attempt to return the taxpayer-owned bank to private status. 3. Morgan Stanley settles its financial crisis troubles. Morgan Stanley (MS) will pay $2.6 billion to settle its case with the U.S. government over the bank's sale of mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis. The sum is the largest penalty stemming from the crisis for Morgan Stanley. The U.S. Justice Department said Morgan Stanley misled investors by obscuring the quality of the loans captured within bonds that the bank was selling. Morgan Stanley will use past earnings to pay the fine, retroactively decreasing its 2014 earnings by more than a third. 4. How fast are U.S. prices rising?