BankThink

Morning Scan: Waiting for the Fed's Rate Reveal; Bitpay Hacked for $1.8M

09/17/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fed Watch: The financial world is on tenterhooks over the outcome of today's Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Some of Wall Street's most prominent leaders are betting the Federal Reserve will opt to hold off raising short-term interest rates, according to the Wall Street Journal. "I wouldn't do it," Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein tells the paper, citing subpar wage growth and inflation rates as factors likely to delay a rate...

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Millennials May Be Entitled — But Banks Need Them Anyway

09/16/15

When people talk about the issues that now imperil community banks, they focus on things like low net interest margins and excessive regulations. But it's a dearth of young talent that could wind up dooming small banks.

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Bankers May Not 'Get' Millennials, But They Need Them

09/16/15

When people talk about the issues that now imperil community banks, they focus on things like low net interest margins and excessive regulations. But it's a dearth of young talent that could wind up dooming small banks.

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Regulators Should Let Banks Get Back to Small-Dollar Loans

09/16/15

Small installment loans with monthly payments limited to 5% of a borrower's income offer a way for banks to serve low-income customers' credit needs while turning a profit.

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Morning Scan: Banks Team Up on Blockchain; Ex-Spies in Cybersecurity

09/16/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

United by the Blockchain: Nine of the world's largest banks are joining forces to bring blockchain technology into the financial services fold. Banks including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse will back a start-up called R3CEV with the goal of establishing protocols and standards for blockchain use. The consortium will also work to develop "a platform that could handle the billions of dollars worth of transactions that occur in the financial...

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Give Digital Wallets a Cut of Interchange Fees

09/15/15

Apple Pay, Google Wallet and other platforms have the potential to change consumers' payments habits. If retail payment networks want to keep their brands visible, they might need to consider giving these platforms a slice of the interchange pie.

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DOJ Must Prove Commitment to Ending 'Too Big to Jail'

09/15/15

Criminal charges don't scare big banks anymore. Perhaps the Justice Department's fresh commitment to threatening top executives with prosecution will keep them in line.

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Morning Scan: Preserving Wall Street Chats; Who's Afraid of the DOJ?

09/15/15

Not-So-Secret Chat: A new deal between New York's financial regulator and four big banks aims to preserve government access to the financial institutions' electronic communications. The deal comes ahead of the launch of Wall Street's long-awaited chat and messaging service Symphony, scheduled to roll out Tuesday. Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York Mellon will all keep copies of their communications via Symphony for seven years and stash duplicates of decryptionÂ...

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Don't Bank Too Much on a Fed Rate Hike

09/14/15

Even if the Federal Reserve decides to begin raising rates this September, banks are unlikely to get the boost they've been hoping for. That's because pent-up customer demand for attractive yields may force banks to raise deposit rates more quickly than they have projected.

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Regulating BB&T Is Too Big a Job for the FDIC

09/14/15

The North Carolina-based BB&T is far larger than any other bank regulated by the FDIC. It should be under the supervision of an agency with more experience overseeing large banks.

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