BankThink

Strong Risk Management Begins (and Ends) with Strong Leadership

11/21/13

We can talk all we want about policies, process and technology, but in the end, financial services remains a people-based business. Having the right people in key risk management roles will yield the strong institutions of tomorrow.

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Credit Suisse Unveils Ring Fence Plan; QE Update; A Bunch of Bitcoin Wannabes

11/21/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Ring Fenced: Credit Suisse has begun to wall off its Swiss banking business from riskier investment banking operations in the U.S. and U.K. in order to address regulators' concerns over "too big to fail." The plan includes combining two London subsidiaries and transferring its U.S. derivatives business to its U.S. subsidiary. (The unit currently operates out of London.) UBS similarly announced plans to ring fence its banking operations last month. Wall Street…

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Women on Boards Improve a Bank's Performance

11/20/13

The U.S. could be at a competitive disadvantage by being less proactive in the area of gender diversity on boards. We’ll need to engage CEOs everywhere to achieve meaningful progress.

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Startup Coin: More Passing Fad than True Disruptor

11/20/13

The buzzy credit card consolidator, at least in its initial incarnation, doesn’t render wallets redundant or, even, allow the consumer to do anything they can’t already.

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Dissecting JPMorgan's $13 Billion Settlement

11/20/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

How Justice Built Its Case Against JPM: The $13 billion civil settlement JPMorgan Chase reached with the Justice Department on Tuesday, the largest penalty a single company has ever paid to the government, started with the Justice Department's discovery of a 2006 meeting in which bank executives decided to continue selling shoddy mortgage securities despite major red flags, according to the Wall Street Journal. As part of the civil settlement, JPMorgan acknowledged...

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Why Bankers and Regulators See Very Different Future for Giant Banks

11/19/13

Government officials hope to squeeze the giants down to size while executives are counting on thriving with modified business models. Reality lies somewhere in the middle.

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Housing Market Still Rests on Shaky Ground

11/19/13

In seeking to prevent future financial contagion, the U.S. may have gone too far in regulating the mortgage industry, cutting millions of potential buyers out of the real estate market.

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Wouldn't It Be Great to Pay $13 Billion Settlements ... with Bitcoins?

11/19/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

JPMorgan Reaches Big Mortgage Accord: The New York bank agreed to a $13 billion settlement to resolve the government's longstanding issues with questionable mortgage practices. The Wall Street Journal said the "historic settlement," which ends multiple probes into mortgage bonds issued before the financial crisis, is the largest amount of fines and damages the government has secured from a company in a civil settlement. The New York Times notes that $4 billion...

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The False Promise of Narrow Banking

11/18/13

Seeking to narrow the range of activities in which well-capitalized and well-managed bank holding companies can engage is a mistaken endeavor. Prohibiting activities will lessen competition, increase risk and raise costs for customers.

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Five Reasons Washington Should Leave Bitcoin Alone

11/18/13

As a fast, low-cost payment system, Bitcoin provides healthy competition for legacy banks. It's also a bulwark for financial privacy and freedom of speech.

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