BankThink

How Far Will RICO Probes of Online Lenders Go?

04/25/16

Recent prosecutions against lenders accused of usury violations will test the government's use of a law more commonly known in organized crime cases.

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Morning Scan: Are Banks Really TBTF?; Swift Security Update

04/25/16

Wall Street Journal

So what if banks are too big to fail? Deposits at the big four commercial banks grew 2.1% to $.2 trillion in the first quarter – welcome news for banks despite a year-over-year decrease. Though their gains in deposits aren't quite enough to counter some of the more grim details of their first-quarter earnings, they show that the very least, depositors aren't fed up with the too-big-to-fail institutions. ...

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Flashback: When Electronic Banking Was 'Taking Hold'

04/22/16

Long before daily talk of fintech, blockchain and APIs, the number of U.S. banking customers who used at-home services once amounted to the population of a small suburb.

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Women in Banking: #TheNew20, Muriel Siebert and Female CEOs

04/22/16

Muriel Siebert once said each woman has to fight a different fight for the greater progress of women. Putting a woman on the new $20 bill is surely progress, but it's also controversial. And there is still a tremendous gap with female bank CEOs, as well as architects and venture capitalists. Also, Sheila Bair and U.K. regulators talk about how to "fix" the financial system and why it doesn't necessarily require more work on the regulatory front.

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Morning Scan: Feds Limit Bank Pay, CFPB to Curb Arbitration Clauses

04/22/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Wall Street's Pay Crackdown: Regulators have put forth a proposal to revamp how bankers are paid, a long awaited response following the 2008 financial crisis. Caught firmly in the crosshairs of the newly proposed rules are bonuses. The highest-paid employees at banks would need to wait at least four years to receive portions of their annual pay, and individuals who make risky choices that lead to losses could be forced to returnÂ...

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Banks Key to Determining Success of Paris Climate Deal

04/21/16

The Paris Agreement on limiting the rise in global temperatures opens up new lending opportunities related to low-carbon projects while highlighting an array of new risks for financial institutions.

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Banks Don't Have to Kill Legacy Systems to Be More Agile

04/21/16

Traditional banks are not likely to match the nimbleness of a fintech startup for a whole variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean all is lost.

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Having Right Culture Is Even More Critical in a Merger

04/21/16

There are countless considerations banks face when joining another institution, but blending two distinct organizational philosophies into a healthy culture must be a top priority.

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Morning Scan: Deutsche's Big-Data Fraud Approach, BlackRock's SIFI Struggle

04/21/16

Wall Street Journal

"One Firm Getting What It Wants in Washington: BlackRock." That's the head on a piece in the Journal that looks at how the largest asset manager (by far) has worked the system to avoid the SIFI designation (for now).

Venture funding for lending startups has dried up during the first quarter of 2016 ($298 million vs. $832 in the last quarter of 2015), and Silicon Valley is now putting its money behind firms that...

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Bigger Role for Internal Auditors Would Slash Risk of Big Banks

04/20/16

Continued doubts over ending "too big to fail" should force managers to elevate underappreciated staff whose job is to attack oncoming risks.

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