BankThink

Morning Scan: Panama Papers; Tour de Kashkari; Citi Active Overseas

04/04/16

Receiving Wide Coverage Â... Panama Papers: The Australian Tax Office will investigate some 800 wealthy clients of a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, after a leak of 11.5 million records that reveal detailed information about hundreds of thousands of clients Â-- including former world leaders, businessmen, celebrities, sports stars and criminals Â-- spanning from 1977 to last December. The German newspaper S ddeutsche Zeitung, Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and more than 100 global news organizationsÂ...

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What Big-Bank Breakup Hawks Should Be Talking About

04/01/16

Rather than look at the hard problem of restructuring the banking system, critics of the largest institutions should focus on the more immediate issues pertaining to extremely high capital requirements, which may hamper economic activity.

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CFTC Rule Gives Regulators End-Run Around Fourth Amendment

04/01/16

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's proposal to obtain trader source code sets a dangerous precedent of regulators impinging on firms' constitutional protection from search and seizure.

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Bank Leadership Must Be Earned, Not Announced

04/01/16

What makes a true leader is particularly relevant to the banking industry, in which the leading institutions and key individuals are not always defined by asset size.

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Morning Scan: GE Wants to Drop SIFI Label; Bitcoin Founder Reveal?

04/01/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

MetLife's Floodgates: The day after a federal judge sided with MetLife in its case against federal regulators regarding their designating the insurer as systemically important, another non-bank has filed to end regulatory oversight. General Electric wants to do away with Federal Reserve oversight, arguing it has scaled down its financial-services arm to the point where it no longer could pose a threat to the overall financial system. If GE's request is approved,...

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Regulators Should Cheer Faster Payments Effort from Sidelines

03/31/16

To help make instant payments a reality, regulators here and abroad should encourage multiple approaches, thus avoiding the temptation to mandate a single solution.

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Women in Banking: Ex-Lehman CFO on Gender Questions; More Paid Time Off

03/31/16

Did Lehman Brothers pick Erin Callan Montella for CFO at a desperate hour so that she could be the one to fall on the sword? Kelly Evans of "Closing Bell" suggests so. Are women focusing too much on performance? Carla Harris offers a more effective alternative. Also, Bank of America gives new parents more time off and an activist investor demands gender pay equality.

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Future of Checking Is About More than Killing Overdraft

03/31/16

Regulators are right to target overdraft and other fees as obstacles to banks offering affordable checking account options, but thatÂ's just the beginning in developing transactional products that work for consumers.

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Morning Scan: MetLife Wins SIFI Case; Fintech Means Job Cuts

03/31/16

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Not 'Important': MetLife, the country's largest life insurer, has scored a significant victory in court, winning its battle with regulators over its designation as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI). U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said in her decision that she sided fully with MetLife on two counts and partially on a third. MetLife argued federal regulators assigned the label in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner using a problematic process. In the...

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A 'Sticky' Customer Is Not Necessarily a Happy One

03/30/16

In many cases, customers aren't staying with a bank's brand because they are satisfied. They are staying with the brand because it's too hard to leave.

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