BankThink

The Seven Deadly Sins of Bank Investment Portfolio Management

08/26/14

Pride, greed, sloth and envy are just a few of the potential stumbling blocks in the management of banks' bond portfolios, writes David G. Barnes.

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Morning Scan: Hedge Funds Sue BNY Mellon; Community Banks' Bond Sales

08/26/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Sued: Several hedge funds have sued Bank of New York Mellon over its trustee role in overseeing payments from bonds on which Argentina defaulted in 2001. The suit, filed in London, seeks access to the interest payments the funds claim they are owed, after a federal judge blocked the payments last month. Wall Street Journal Â...

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Expect Faster SBA Loan Decisions, Contreras-Sweet Says

08/25/14

The SBA is committed to modernizing and simplifying its lending practices and, under the Obama administration, the agency has eliminated pages of regulations that were blocking the capital pipeline and hindering the growth of our economy.

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Government Assurance Aside, Marijuana Money Still Risky for Banks

08/25/14

While new government guidance is intended to make banks more willing to do business with legal marijuana dealers, in practice it creates a new set of headaches for bankers.

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Morning Scan: Yellen's Mixed Signals; Banks to Exit Muni Bonds?

08/25/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Mixed Signals: Fed Chair Janet Yellen went to Wyoming and all she brought back to Washington, D.C., was a lousy T-shirt, with no better sign whatsoever of when short-term interest rates will rise. At the Kansas City Fed's yearly economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Yellen gave a slew of mixed signals on whether she thinks the U.S. job market has improved enough yet to warrant a rise in rates, the Wall...

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Designating Life Insurers as SIFIs Creates Uneven Playing Field

08/22/14

The Financial Stability Oversight Council plans to regulate the asset management industry by targeting activities that pose systemic risk rather than the companies themselves. Regulators should take the same approach with life insurers, according to former U.S. Sen. Dirk Kempthorne.

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Election Season Could Spur Expansion of Operation Choke Point

08/22/14

Financial institutions and industries targeted by Operation Choke Point should expect to see a dramatic increase in the issuance of administrative subpoenas or civil investigative demands.

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Morning Scan: B of A's 'Mortgage Sins'; CFPB Can't Stop Revolving Door

08/22/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ... BofA's 'Mortgage Sins': Documents released as part of Bank of America's $17 billion settlement with the U.S. government "read like a highlight reel of the mortgage sins that fed the 2008 financial crisis," the New York Times reports. The Times and the Wall Street Journal focus on a few particularly striking passages. Former Countrywide Financial chief Angelo Mozilo warned in a 2005 email that a possible condo-market crash would be a "financialÂ...

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Why Banks Need to Be More Like Carrots

08/21/14

The invention of baby carrots transformed Americans' vegetable-eating habits. Banks need to shake up their products and services in a similarly unique way if they hope to differentiate themselves, according to Bill Early of PlumDog Financial.

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Let Customers — Not Regulators — Decide the Right Size for Banks

08/21/14

Some politicians and regulators appear determined to shrink big banks. But doing so could hurt Americans who appreciate big banks' geographical reach and wide range of services, according to financial markets scholar Stephen Matteo Miller.

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