The election of Democrat Phil Murphy as New Jersey's next governor is being hailed as a victory for advocates of state-owned banks. But challenges remain — namely, stubborn opposition from mainstream banks.
While the Bank of America chief says he is encouraged by progress on tax reform, he cautioned that it remains politically and fiscally tough to accomplish, and that the wrong moves on immigration could offset some of the gains from tax cuts.
Sterling Bancorp in New York is determined to turn Astoria Financial's largely residential operation into a commercial powerhouse. While investors are skeptical, CEO Jack Kopnisky has proven in the past that such an ambitious plan is doable.
The regulatory relief bill would raise the SIFI threshold to $250 billion of assets and allow mortgages held in portfolio to be counted as "qualified," among other items, but it is far less sweeping than institutions had hoped.
When a coder locked $150 million of digital currency stored in Parity digital wallets last week, many bankers probably saw it as another reason to ignore cryptocurrencies. Instead they should recognize the business opportunity (key custody) that the incident presents.
While some community bankers and Washington advocates doubt the likelihood of achieving meaningful regulatory relief in the 115th Congress, the many measures advancing on Capitol Hill leave plenty of room for optimism.
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker has met with shareholders and discussed takeovers of U.S. credit card businesses in his first month in office, the Sunday Times reported.
