BankThink

The Days of Huge Fed Rate Hikes Are Over

06/06/16

The Federal Reserve has made clear that higher rates are more a question of when, not if, but banks should let go of rate hikes being anything like they were under Alan Greenspan.

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Morning Scan: Junior Banker Focus; Fintech Regulation Vacuum

06/06/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Juniorization: While investment banks have cut compensation costs by 21% on average since 2009, they've only made staff cuts of 3% in the same time. Companies have been increasing their employee retention efforts initiative to improve the work-life balance of its more junior bankers. Once able to attract young talent with a large salary alone, banks must compete with the technology industry and other areas of finance that offer young workers competitive...

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The Real Fintech Threat Isn't from Startups

06/03/16

Well-established tech giants like Amazon and Google pose a more formidable threat to banks than the thousands of startups populating the fintech market.

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Morning Scan: Overheated Auto Lending Sector Worries Dimon; Tougher Stress Tests Coming

06/03/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Auto Loans in the Spotlight: All of those TV and radio advertisements from car dealerships could be coming back to bite the banks making loans for new cars. Speaking about the overheated market for auto lending, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said "someone is going to get hurt." Not JPMorgan, of course. "It won't be us," Dimon said. Probably community banks. ...

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Five EMV Myths the Card Industry Wants You to Believe

06/03/16

The Electronic Payments Coalition's arguments supporting Visa in its legal battle with Walmart are not based in fact.

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Women in Banking: How Arbitration Hurts Women; Is the CFO Role 'Women's' Work?

06/02/16

Mandatory arbitration policies are gaining attention as one of the hurdles to gender parity in the financial services industry. Catherine Flax of BNP Paribas is part of a vanguard of female foreign currency traders on Wall Street, though they still stand out in the "bros' club." Is the CFO role the new 'women's' job? Also, Ally's Carrie Sumlin and Wells Fargo's Secil Watson are recognized as Digital Bankers of the Year.

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CFPB Pours Cold Water on Banks' Deposit Advance Hopes

06/02/16

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal could have included flexibility for banks to offer payday loan alternatives, but the plan misses the mark.

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Branch Success, or Failure, Lies with Middle Management

06/02/16

Branch managers are essential, but it is the manager's manager that can set the tone for the performance of a bank's branch program.

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Morning Scan: Mortgage Laws Put Lenders in a Bind; Rappers' Fraud Confession

06/02/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

State of Banking, Continued: The regulatory push for banks to take fewer risks in mortgage lending has also meant that banks are issuing fewer mortgages to African-Americans and Hispanics. As part of the new regulatory scheme, banks have moved into making high-dollar mortgages because they carry less risk, the Wall Street Journal reports in its ongoing series on the state of banking. In the process, low-income and middle-income consumers are finding it...

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Bank Be Nimble, Bank Be Quick

06/02/16

How Eastern Bank pulled off something few community banks have: launching a digital lending product that the 197-year-old mutual dreamed up in its innovation lab.

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