BankThink

Morning Scan: Bloomberg Terminal Failure Delays Trading; Fed Rate Worries

04/17/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Bloombergs Go Kaput: Add another name to the list of companies deemed systemically important: Bloomberg LP. The financial-data provider's terminals went down in Asia and Europe overnight, or perhaps even worldwide, leading the U.K.'s debt-management office to cancel a scheduled transaction to buy back government debt. The total system failure prompted Louis Gargour, chief investment officer at LNG Capital, to say, "a global outage like this is systemically important to markets all...

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If Detroit Survived Fuel-Economy Rules, Lenders Can Survive New Disclosures

04/16/15

Mortgage lenders are stressed about how the CFPB's new mortgage disclosure rule will impact their business. But the new forms may give them a chance to improve business performance.

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No Denying Dodd-Frank's Role in Bank M&A

04/16/15

Some industry observers argue that bank consolidation is driven by economies of scale rather than by the regulatory burdens imposed under Dodd-Frank. But the two factors actually go hand in hand.

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Morning Scan: Bernanke to Join Hedge Fund Citadel; B of A's Weak Returns

04/16/15

Breaking News This Morning ... Earnings: Citigroup, Key Corp, Goldman Sachs New York Times Former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is set to take a job as an adviser to hedge fund Citadel. Banks had recruited Bernanke, he told the paper (without naming his suitors), but he declined their offers. It's a well-worn path between the Federal Reserve and the private sector, particularly hedge funds. Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan worked as a consultant to hedge fundÂ...

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Digital Currency Puts Fully Banked World Within Reach

04/15/15

The world needs a financial system that moves money with real-time transparency while upholding the highest level of security and privacy. Digital currency and mobile money services can help get us there.

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Banks Better Watch Out for Geeks in the Garage

04/15/15

The banking industry as a whole will survive startups. But many individual banks will fail to make the changes necessary to stay relevant in a rapidly changing market.

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Why Marketplace Lenders May Snuff Out Credit Cards

04/14/15

Marketplace lenders are aggressively marketing their loans as a way to refinance expensive credit card debt. And with more affordable interest rates and faster loan application processes, there's reason to believe that firms like Lending Club and SoFi will beat out banks.

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Three Problems That Should Top Basel Committee's To-Do List

04/14/15

The Basel Committee needs to measure the efficacy of recently implemented rules, strengthen banks' operational risk requirements and make banks' risk models less variable. Luckily, secretary general William Coen has vowed to do just that.

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Morning Scan: Citi CEO Succession Plan Set? Pot Bank's Exit Strategy

04/14/15

Breaking News This Morning ...

Earnings: JPMorgan, Wells Fargo Wall Street Journal

Citigroup's reshuffling of executives announced on Monday included the appointment of a clear number two executive behind CEO Michael Corbat. Citi named Jamie Forese its sole president, making him the likely successor to Corbat should he step down, unnamed sources told the paper. Forese's promotion was not mentioned in a letter Corbat sent to Citi employees on Monday. Forese is currently head of Citi's investment bank...

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Hold the Champagne on GE Capital's Breakup

04/13/15

General Electric's plan to sell most of its financing arm has been hailed as a sign that financial reform is successfully persuading too big to fail firms to break up. But the end of GE Capital just means that the conglomerates left standing are even more homogeneous and risk-prone.

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