BankThink

Banks should focus on strategies to ensure their sales incentives programs actually help drive profits. Otherwise, their rewards programs are at risk of adding zero benefit to their bottom line.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Settled: JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $264 million and admit it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to resolve charges that it hired relatives of Chinese government officials and managers of state-owned companies to win business in China. But it may only be the first of many banks to do so. Several other U.S. and foreign banks are under investigation for similar practices, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, HSBCÂ...

The complexity for large banks trying to improve culture is they are made up of different entities with competing missions and therefore competing cultures.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Targets: House Republicans are looking to scrap rules on how brokers sell retirement investments, as well as interest rate limits and disclosures on payday lenders, once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The push is being led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who is under consideration to become Treasury secretary. He asserts the rules were written by bureaucrats, not Congress. He also called for stripping the Financial Stability Oversight...

The president-elect should consider establishing an executive-level office to inform his administration on ushering in a new era of financial regulation Â-- one that is much savvier about new technology and big data.