BankThink

Corker-Warner Bill Retains Fatal Flaw of GSE Model

06/17/13

When the government backs any system, the beneficiaries have only limited interest in the risks they are taking. Senators Corker and Warner have fallen into this trap.

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The Fincen Whistleblowers

06/17/13

Many developed countries, free from the U.S. impulse to see every product as something to track, do not share its inclination to frown on financial privacy.

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Co-op Bank to 'Bail In' Bondholders; JPM Expands and Contracts

06/17/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Co-op Bank 'Bails In' Bondholders: As part of its efforts to raise an additional $2.4 billion in capital, U.K. lender Co-operative Bank is asking subordinated bondholders to swap their debt securities for shares in the bank. "By requiring bondholders to exchange their debt securities for shares, Co-operative Bank is trying to avoid turning to the British government for help," Dealbook notes. Participation in the swap is currently voluntary. Analysts tell the Journal...

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Avoiding Social Media Will Cost Banks Customers

06/17/13

Social channels may encourage complaints, but it is in banks’ best interests to publicly demonstrate they are fixing the problem.

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The Polarizing Issue of Overdraft Protection; Should Regulators Vet New Financial Products?

06/14/13

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

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Overdraft Problems Require More than Enforcement Actions

06/14/13

Straightening out bad actors is fine, but it won’t resolve the inconsistencies and consumer confusion about overdraft protection cited by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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Government v. Gearheads; With Chief Ousted, Morale Expected to Deteriorate at RBS

06/14/13

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Fallout from RBS's Hester Ousting: The Royal Bank of Scotland's firing of its chief executive, Stephen Hester, will send bank staff morale "to rock bottom," the Financial Times reports, and more defections are expected. In a related note, RBS announced Thursday it would wind down its remaining equities sales and trading businesses and will cease to offer structured retail investor products and equity derivatives; this is expected to lead to 2,000 job...

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Regulators Need Schooling on Measuring Lending Bias

06/14/13

Federal regulators must not rely on standard measures of differences between outcome rates without considering the way those measures change simply because the frequency of an outcome changes.

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Why Some Banks Thrived and Others Failed After the Crisis

06/13/13

Bankers and regulators may need to study the barriers of entry into banking just as seriously as the NFL and Major League Baseball consider new franchises for football and baseball.

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A 'Boundless Informant' for Financial System Could End TBTF

06/13/13

Regulators can use the power of Big Data mining and pattern-matching algorithms to seek out triggers of contagion across an interconnected financial system.

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