BankThink

The Real Threat to Mortgage Lending

11/19/12

Instead of pushing to avoid risk retention or liability for future frauds, banks that want to originate and sell mortgages should focus on containing and rolling back the disparate impact doctrine, which seems sure to savage them.

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FHA Annual Report Reveals a Cornucopia of Problems

11/19/12

The FHA's mission to promote housing has contributed to its downfall in addressing its other mission: To maintain fiscal discipline of the mortgage insurance fund.

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Believe in Your Business Model: Fans, Not Customers, Part III

11/19/12

If you have a successful model that you believe in, it doesn't matter what the establishment says.

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HSBC Looks to Streamline; Shadow Banking Becomes Task Force's Target

11/19/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

For Sale: HSBC is in talks to sell its stake in China's Ping An Insurance, which is worth $9 billion to $9.5 billion, depending on which paper you believe. A deal could net the bank around $7.5 billion. The FT name drops "Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, who controls the Charoen Pokphand Group" as a potential buyer. While the move is apparently not in line with HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver's statement last...

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Credit Does Not Belong on Prepaid Cards

11/16/12

To offer credit as a means of promoting savings is a bit like a hospital encouraging people to get sick so they can be healed.

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Don't Be Fooled by the FHA 'Bailout' Hysteria

11/16/12

Taxpayers are getting a bargain by propping up the cash-strapped agency.

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To Get Results, Regulators Should Target Bankers' Wallets

11/16/12

Reintroduce an element of personal liability for highly paid senior bank executives, phase out the implicit government guarantee of senior creditors' claims at large banks and increase focus on board governance to ensure better aligned incentives.

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'Extreme' Stress Tests; Ugly FHA Audit; Et Tu, Michael Corbat?

11/16/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Stress Tests: The Fed released the scenarios for the next round of modeling exercises mandated by Dodd-Frank for 30 or so large banks. The hypothetical economic shocks this time include a sharp slowdown in China. An industry lobbyist tells the Journal that these theoretical stressors are "the most extreme to date." But Times columnist Peter Eavis wonders why 1970s-style runaway inflation isn't considered in the stress tests. Remote as that scenario may...

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Dead Frogs and Other Unintended Consequences

11/16/12

If regulators continue to sting banks with overzealous enforcement actions and ill-conceived policies, they, like the scorpion in Aesop's fable, could find themselves up the creek without a frog or paddle.

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Post-Employment Restrictions for Bank Examiners Are Tough Enough

11/15/12

Sheila Bair may advocate a lifelong commitment for examiners, but given existing rules, the fears of potential conflicts of interest should be more hypothetical than real.

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