Morning roundup: Banks encouraging short sales

Here's a look at this morning's banking and finance news:

• Banks are offering cash incentives - some as much as $35,000 - to delinquent homeowners to sell their properties for less than they owe, Bloomberg reports. Lenders have found these short sales faster and easier than foreclosures, and they're encouraging them as part of a continued effort to move troubled mortgages off their books.
• The Wall Street Journal examines whether big banks can be part of a "socially responsible investing" plan.
• An emerging class of "shadow banks" could prompt a new wave of financial turmoil, Reuters reports. Now, watchdogs are focusing on hedge funds and money market funds that are engaging in unregulated financial activity.
• A company that provided home foreclosure services to lenders has been indicted on forgery charges by a Missouri grand jury, the New York Times reports.
• Stocks slipped as markets opened this morning amid mixed earnings reports and continued uncertainty over Greek debt talks, CNBC reports.