BankThink

Don't Count on Mandatory Retirement to Refresh Bank Boards

12/02/14

Mandatory retirement ages and term limits can backfire by forcing out board members with badly-needed skills. It's better for boards to take the necessary, though socially uncomfortable, step of convincing underperforming directors to leave.

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Morning Scan: Hackers Master Wall St. Jargon; Revolving Door Apologia

12/02/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Wall St. Posers: Hackers have been masquerading as investment bankers and senior executives at pharmaceutical and health care companies as part of a plot to gain access to market-moving information, according to a report from cybersecurity firm FireEye. For more than a year, the cybercriminals have sent phishing emails "written in flawless English and carefully worded to sound as if they were sent by someone with an extensive background in investment banking...

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Conflict of Interest at Root of Fed Oversight Woes

12/01/14

The Federal Reserve was comfortable as a behind-the-scenes regulator, but itÂ's now expected to be a public enforcer as well. Asking the agency to balance these contradictory roles is a recipe for trouble.

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Making the Mental Shift to Mobile-Centric Banking

12/01/14

Bankers can prepare for the eventual dominance of mobile technology by investing in interactive videos and moving away from monolithic applications.

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Morning Scan: Banks Use Big Data to Uncover Bad Seeds; Homeownership vs. Renting

12/01/14

Wall Street Journal

There's no roasting marshmallows 'round the bonfire at Boost, a Bitcoin boot camp in Silicon Valley, but entrepreneurs do share bunk beds and board a bus for day-long field trips. Founded by 28-year-old Adam Draper, the son of venture capitalist and Bitcoin enthusiast Tim Draper, Boost invests between $10,000 and $20,000 in Bitcoin startups in exchange for a 6% ownership stake. ...

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Reading the Tea Leaves on Cybersecurity Regulation

11/26/14

Recent speeches by Benjamin Lawsky and other regulators suggest that government officials are gearing up to issue new cybersecurity rules. Banks' relationships with third-party vendors are one likely area of focus.

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CFPB's Prepaid Card Rules Put a Freeze on the Future

11/26/14

The CFPB's proposed requirements threaten to trap next-generation digital wallets and cryptocurrency innovations in a consumer protection regime narrowly tailored to the unique characteristics of reloadable prepaid cards.

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Morning Scan: HSBC in Hot Water; How CEOs Tangle with Activist Investors

11/26/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

HSBC in Regulators' Crosshairs: Loose lips sink ships, as American propaganda posters during World War II once proclaimed, but it seems some bank employees are unaware of the idiom. The Wall Street Journal reports the Justice Department has launched a probe into allegations that an HSBC trader alerted a major hedge fund to confidential details about an imminent currency exchange deal in 2010. The probe "suggests that the U.S. is eyeing a...

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How Community Banks Can Get Millennials to Go Local

11/25/14

Millennials frequent independent coffee shops and farmers markets, so it stands to reason they'll see the appeal in community banks. Meanwhile, smaller lenders can court young people by appealing to their entrepreneurial spirit.

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Overdraft Protection Rules Could Hurt Consumers More Than They Help

11/24/14

Before the CFPB imposes new rules on overdraft fees, it should consider whether restricting consumer access to this feature could drive people to more expensive alternatives like payday loans.

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