BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Whispers at the Federal Reserve: Is the Fed getting ready to end its stimulus efforts? That's what some folks are wondering after minutes from the January Federal Open Market Committee meeting indicated "widening divisions among [Fed] officials" about the central bank's current monetary policy (which, recall, involves monthly purchases of about $85 billion in long-term bonds and mortgage-backed securities for an indefinite period). The stock market posted its biggest loss of the...

Many problems with payday products are concocted by activists and politicians with mercenary intent who are more interested in squelching innovation than letting people make choices for themselves.

Properly measured and appropriately set capital levels have a long way to go before becoming excessive.

Bankers, analysts and investors can no longer simply consider past performance to gauge if banks have enough capital. The what-if forecasting of regulators' stress tests is critical to the exercise.

Wall Street Journal

Fourth time's a charm? The paper reports "deficit hawks" Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles plan to offer up a deficit fix to Washington sometime later today. According to the duo, this new plan "would reduce the federal budget deficit by $2.4 trillion over 10 years" primarily through reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, curbing or axing certain tax breaks, lowering caps on discretionary spending and adjusting how cost-of-living increases are calculated for Social Security...