BankThink

Overregulation and elimination of short-term credit alternatives will merely hurt consumers, particularly when criticism of existing products comes with no new solutions.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Beyond Basel: U.S. regulators proposed Tuesday that the nation's biggest banks adhere to a 5% leverage ratio with their FDIC-insured bank subsidiaries subject to a 6% ratio, double the requirement set by Basel III. The Journal calls the proposal "the first in a series of steps regulators plan to take to address ongoing concerns that banks remain so large, complex and interconnected that they could require another government bailout in the event...

A recent flurry of directives indicates the Basel Committee is committed to establishing uniform, international capital standards that improve the safety and soundness of large, interconnected banks.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Eye on Auditors: You know it's a slow day in the U.S. banking world when the only story that qualifies as "receiving wide coverage" is about proposed legislation that would prevent the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board from forcing companies to periodically rotate their auditors. Late Monday, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would block the PCAOB from requiring companies to change auditors — an idea that was first proposed by…

Buried in the Corker-Warner reform bill are two provisions that would give the Federal Home Loan banks an opportunity to play a major role in the new housing finance system.