BankThink

Dodd-Frank Makes a Mockery of 'Plain Language' Movement

11/28/12

We now have two different definitions of a "high-cost" mortgage, as well as a "higher priced" mortgage, and a "higher risk" mortgage. Clearly, Congress failed to practice what it preaches.

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Housing Market Recovery in Full Swing, Just in Time for the Student Loan Meltdown

11/28/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Housing: The same market that dragged the U.S. into a nasty recession "is now a key economic driver at a time when other sectors are slowing," the Journal reports this morning. While GDP growth limps along and businesses fret about the fiscal cliff, "an improving housing market is buoying consumers' spirits and giving the economy its biggest lift since the real-estate boom." Mortgages remain hard to come by, but to the extent...

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Digital Partnerships Should be a Priority for Banks in 2013

11/28/12

Banks must understand the risks associated with a potential partnership, assess how the effort will support their overall strategy and hire the right talent to manage the venture once it has been approved.

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A Toxic Culture Can Be Hazardous to Your Bank's Balance Sheet

11/27/12

Banks must take a stand against a shattered culture or suffer the repercussions of a fractured chain of command, reduced productivity, high employee turnover, weak customer service and poor work quality.

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Increasing Business Lending Cap Will Make Credit Unions TBTF

11/27/12

An increased cap would almost certainly lead large institutions, hungry for short-term profits, to take greater risks that they are ill-equipped to handle.

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Stop Subsidizing (and Distorting) the Housing Market

11/27/12

Taxpayers should not be paying to increase homeownership or to boost home prices. With interest rates low, lenders can charge for risk and homeowners can pay for it.

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Will Mark Carney Cast a Blinding Light on London's Shadowy Financial Sector?

11/27/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

There's a New Bobbie, Er, Mountie in Town: The surprise announcement that Mark Carney, Canada's central banker, will cross the pond to head the Bank of England could be viewed as a shot across the bow for global banks operating in the London regulatory haven. Granted, Carney is a Goldman Sachs alumnus (or "a member of the Government Sachs Club," as a Times headline put it). But he also has a history...

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How to Risk-Adjust the Culture of Global Finance

11/27/12

Take care of your management team last, not the other way around. Vet new ideas through risk management and audit committees, not the marketing and sales department. Manage incentive compensation around risk-adjusted performance metrics.

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Communities Need Bankers to Lead, Not Lunch

11/26/12

Bankers should be a resource for their communities beyond making loans and sponsoring little league teams. Here are a few fresh ways to get involved.

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Only Charles Schwab Could Go to China; Auto Lending in Overdrive

11/26/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Breakthrough in MMF Debate: You might have missed this over the long holiday weekend: Charles Schwab is now backing reform of money market mutual funds. Specifically, the brokerage's CEO, Walt Bettinger, wrote in a Journal op-ed that his company would support requiring a floating net asset value for "institutional prime" money market funds. "Institutional" meaning funds whose shares are concentrated in the hands of relatively few holders, making them more prone to...

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