BankThink

One More Money Laundering Problem for Banks to Worry About

03/03/15

Trade-based money laundering happens outside the financial system. But it can still create major issues for banks because criminals typically deposit their profits in bank accounts.

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How Branches Can Help Banks Bridge the Generation Gap

03/03/15

Banks have to invest in mobile technology in order to keep up with millennials. But bankers also need opportunities to rub shoulders with young customers Â-- and small, conveniently-situated branches give them an opportunity to do so.

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How Branches Can Help Small Banks Bridge the Generation Gap

03/03/15

Banks have to invest in mobile technology in order to keep up with millennials. But bankers also need opportunities to rub shoulders with young customers Â-- and small, conveniently-situated branches give them an opportunity to do so.

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Morning Scan: Stressed About Stress Tests; Buffett Bites Bankers

03/03/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Nothing But Stress: Foreign banks are stressed about the stress tests. Deutsche Bank and Santander are both expected to be called out by the Federal Reserve on Thursday, when the stress test results are announced, for lapses in risk management. Capital isn't the issue with foreign banks. Instead, it's how they measure and predict risks and losses. DB, Santander, Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC and UBS are "now spending heavily and recruiting projectÂ...

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How to Convert Resisters to Dodd-Frank Reform

03/02/15

Lawmakers reluctant to offer community banks regulatory relief should consider the empirical evidence of how Dodd-Frank has hurt small lenders Â-- and listen to the federal and state bank regulators calling for changes.

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Watch Out for the Loophole in FHFA's Home Loan Bank Plan

03/02/15

Geographic ties bind Federal Home Loan Banks and their members to local communities. The Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent proposal to change the FHLB membership requirements could put this connection at risk. The Federal Home Loan Bank system is a national network of local cooperatives. Each of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks is as committed to its local region as the members it serves. The system aims to foster responsible lending and meet the needsÂ...

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Morning Scan: Wells Fargo Caps Subprime Auto Lending; Holder's Deadline

03/02/15

Wall Street Journal

The Dodd-Frank restriction on the Federal Reserve's authority to be a lender of last resort poses a threat to financial stability, Glenn Hubbard, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, and Hal Scott, a Harvard Law School professor, write in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. Restrictions on federal guarantees for bank deposits and money market funds also contribute to the threat. The Fed's lender-of-last-resort authority...

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Want Proof That Dodd-Frank Hurt Community Banks? Weekly Wrap

02/27/15

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including Dodd-Frank's impact on small institutions, Fed chair Janet Yellen's handling of attacks on her staff and Bitcoin's public but pseudonymous ledger.

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Bad Risk Data Could Be Big Banks' Downfall

02/27/15

Big banks are making critical risk management decisions with data that is old, incomplete or even inaccurate. This endangers the safety of the global financial system in more ways than one.

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Morning Scan: CIT, OneWest Deal in Public Eye; Winters Cheered as Standard CEO

02/27/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

CIT, Censures and Selfies: Bank chiefs don't often find themselves defending their business decisions to community members in a public hearing, but then again the $3.4 billion proposed merger between CIT Group and OneWest is a pretty big deal in more ways than one. CIT chief executive John Thain and OneWest CEO Joseph Otting told a panel of banking regulators in Los Angeles Thursday that their plan to create a $70 billion...

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