BankThink

Morning Scan: Boosting Bank Stocks; Goldman Names Consumer Bank

08/19/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Meet Marcus: Goldman Sachs will name its new U.S. consumer banking arm Marcus. "The familiar first name, reportedly the product of extensive market research and lengthy internal discussions," according to the Financial Times, is the namesake of the company's founder Marcus Goldman. The name also tries to divert attention away from the parent company's various legal and political problems since the financial crisis, according to reports. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, NewÂ...

[more]

Women in Banking: The Higher You Climb, the Less Sexism You See?

08/18/16

Heather Cox is moving to USAA; female regulators are gaining prominence in the online lending conversation; and asset managers are still fighting sexism at work (but then again, who isnÂ't?).

[more]

How Bank-Insurance Unions Have Evolved

08/18/16

Pretty much every merger of insurers and banks since the Citi-Travelers deal has come undone, but today's conditions support new-style marriages that make sense for shareholders and customers.

[more]

Morning Scan: Big Cutbacks at Avant; CFPB Goes Undercover

08/18/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Convicted: Sean Stewart, a former investment banker at Perella Weinberg and JPMorgan Chase, was found guilty in federal court on all nine counts of securities fraud for passing tips about pending healthcare mergers to his father. The scheme, in which the father recruited a partner to trade on the information, reaped $1.16 million in profits, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times Wall Street Journal ...

[more]

Blockchain Is Supposed to Work in the Background

08/17/16

Rather than as an application that solves immediate business needs, blockchain's success is more plausible as a protocol layer on which applications are built.

[more]

Morning Scan: Citi, JPM Tap New Tech Execs; First Republic Goes for the Gold

08/17/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Musical tech chairs: Citigroup named Gavin Michael, American Banker's Digital Banker of the Year, its head of technology for global consumer banking. Michael, head of digital for consumer and community banking at JPMorgan, will replace Mark Torkos, who retired in July. Michael will assume his new role in November. Bill Wallace, who was head of operations for JPMorgan's consumer bank, was named to replace Michael. The two announcements follow the departure of...

[more]

What Dearth of New Banks Means for the Industry's Future

08/16/16

Possible bad outcomes from the slowdown in bank chartering include less financial access in rural areas and further concentration of industry assets in just a few large banks.

[more]

Morning Scan: ValueAct Buys Stake in Morgan Stanley; AIG Selling Unit

08/16/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

ValueAct buys Morgan Stanley stake: The activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital Management said it has bought a 2% stake, valued at about $1.1 billion, in Morgan Stanley, but said it is not looking for the bank to make major changes. "We are completely supportive of [Morgan Stanley CEO James] Gorman and impressed by his leadership over the past six years," ValueAct founder Jeff Ubben told the Financial Times. ValueAct said the market...

[more]

Here's What the Bitcoin Naysayers Get Wrong

08/15/16

Bitcoin skeptics continue to misunderstand a technology that could forever change the way financial services operate. Here are four common Â-- and incorrect Â-- beliefs on why bitcoin will fail.

[more]

Morning Scan: Cordray on Treating Customers; Foreign Banks Unprepared

08/15/16

Wall Street Journal

GE sells French mortgages: General Electric received a binding offer for its French prime mortgage portfolio from a newly established French entity backed by an Austrian bank. The deal increases GE Capital's asset sales to about $192 billion, close to its goal of selling $200 billion as part of its plan to disband its GE Capital unit. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. ...

[more]