BankThink

Four Pressing Issues in Combatting Terrorism Financing

08/20/15

Before it dissolves in late September, a bipartisan House task force should take a broader look at de-risking, changing technologies, cybersecurity and the private sector's role in deterring terrorism financing.

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Morning Scan: Fed Waffles Over Rate Hike; Case Against Quarterly Reports

08/20/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fed Hesitates Over Rate Hike: Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting suggest officials are torn over when to go ahead with a rate increase. Some are worried about the slow pace of inflation, which remains well below the central bank's 2% target. China's stock-market declines and the effects of a strong U.S. dollar are also of concern. On the other hand, a substantial number of Fed officials think a rate hike...

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How Marketplace Lenders Will Save Financial Services

08/19/15

Regulated by multiple agencies, marketplace lenders reduce the financial system's leverage, provide greater financial transparency and ultimately deliver a better product to consumers and investors.

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U.S. Shouldn't Take a Back Seat in Global Regulation of Insurers

08/19/15

The Financial Stability Oversight Council has a mandate to designate nonbank financial companies as systemically important based on criteria established by Congress. Its designation decisions should not be pre-determined by the actions of global regulators.

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Ready for the 'Mad Max' World of Digital Banking?

08/19/15

In this post-apocalyptic world of apps and bots, community banks lay in ruin, fintechs come and go, and megabanks dot the vast desert wasteland.

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Morning Scan: Promontory Settles; BB&T Snaps Up Another Bank

08/19/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Let's Make a Deal: Promontory Financial Group won't be locking horns with New York's financial watchdog in court after all. Promontory on Tuesday agreed to a $15 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services and a six-month ban from taking on some new consulting engagements in New York state. The deal resolves allegations that Promontory whitewashed a report on Standard Chartered's sanctions violations and puts a concrete end to...

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Fear and Loathing in Fintech Vendor Land

08/18/15

FIS and merger partner SunGard, along with all other vendors in the space, have not been able to come to market with innovative core systems or software platforms that adequately address the new digital paradigm banks face.

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The CFPB's Data Collection Is to Be Applauded

08/18/15

Critics of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's data collection haven't bothered to learn the basic facts about the data the regulator collects before veering off into black helicopter paranoia.

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Morning Scan: Dallas Fed's New Head; Greenspan vs. Dodd-Frank

08/18/15

A New Head in the Fed: The new president of the Dallas Federal Reserve is something of a mystery man. Robert Steven Kaplan's background as a former Goldman Sachs executive and management professor at Harvard Business School is well known; what's less clear are his views on monetary policy. This enigma is exciting a lot of interest among observers, since Kaplan will be highly influential as a member of the Fed's policy-setting committee when hisÂ...

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Community Banks Can Ride Out CEO Pay Rule

08/17/15

The SEC's new rule requiring companies to disclose the relationship between CEO pay and that of the median employee may be a headache for big banks. But smaller financial institutions should have an easier time calculating the pay ratios, and the numbers are unlikely to attract much scrutiny.

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