BankThink

Weekly Wrap: Enabling Bad Bankers; The Ever-Evolving Bank Branch

02/07/14

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

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How to Create an In-Branch Mobile Experience

02/07/14

New technology from Apple and others can help banks create appointments, share offers, crowdsource customer service and identify their best customers, all in real time.

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Morning Scan: Lawsky Halts Wells Deal; Barclays Gives Junior Trader Tryout at Forex Desk

02/07/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Halted: Top New York regulator Benjamin Lawsky has stopped a deal that would have seen Wells Fargo sell the mortgage servicing rights on $39 billion in loans to Ocwen Financial Corp. The Times and the Journal both report that Lawsky halted the deal out of concerns about Ocwen's ability to handle more mortgages. Lawsky's Department of Financial Services has been investigating the servicer for alleged misdeeds toward homeowners since December 2012. Per...

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SEC MMF Reform Could Send Depositors Back to Banks

02/06/14

Money market funds possess trillions of dollars of short-term institutional investor funds. Now the SECÂ's proposed rule change for the industry may give banks an opportunity to attract institutional depositors with cash management offerings.

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Value of Branches Based on More than Just Dollars and Cents

02/06/14

Community banks exist to serve their customers and communities, not efficiency ratio-obsessed market observers.

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Morning Scan: Lawsky Launches Forex Probe; Credit Suisse Earnings

02/06/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Lawsky Probe: Benjamin Lawsky certainly stays busy. New York's top financial regulator Â-- who recently oversaw a few days of Bitcoin hearings Â-- has launched a probe into whether banks manipulated the foreign exchange market. The Department of Financial Services head has requested documentation from more than a dozen banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered, to investigate. Lawsky, of course, isn't the only one...

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Morning Scan: Farming Fiesta, Targeting Cyber-Security

02/05/14

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Farm Bill's Feast and Famine: In a rare bout of bipartisan unity, the U.S. Senate passed a farm bill that provides a cornucopia of goodies to the well-heeled and well-connectedÂ--including bankersÂ--but a lump of coal for the poor. The long-stalled bill, which represents nearly $1 trillion in spending over the next decade, passed 68 to 32. At 949 pages, it expanded crop insurance for farmers by $7 billion over 10 years and...

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Worries Over Banks' Exposure to Emerging Markets Are Warranted

02/03/14

Lack of bank transparency makes it difficult to see the extent of bank exposures to emerging markets and whether financial firms are adequately capitalized to withstand unexpected losses from this market turmoil Â... or any other.

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How Feds' Double Standard Enables Bad Bankers

02/03/14

Under current conditions, bank executives would be crazy to hold back. If they get caught, they can pay their way out of the problems with shareholdersÂ' money. And if their misdeeds pay off as expected, the profits will goose their pay.

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Far from 'Crushed,' Community Banks Punch Above Their Weight

02/03/14

Contrary to sensationalistic headlines, community banks remain the lenders of choice for small businesses, who appreciate these institutionsÂ' expertise and personal attention.

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