BankThink

The complexity of Basel III is irrelevant to 90% of U.S. banks and should not be imposed on them. If rejecting the rules altogether is not considered politically feasible, a sensible alternative would be to simply exempt all community banks from its requirements.

Liability insurance companies generally argue allowing banks to receive insurance coverage for overdraft litigation settlements violates public policy and rewards supposed wrongdoing, but there typically is no explicit exclusion in a policy that justifies this and other go-to positions.

Viable restructuring alternatives to bank holding company debt do exist and will open the door to conventional M&A options or attract fresh equity.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

The JPMorgan Shuffle Continues: JPMorgan cannot stop revamping its organization chart. One month after an overhaul of its corporate and investment banking division and a week after two upper-level departures, multiple news outlets are reporting the bank's chief financial officer Douglas Braunstein will step down by the end of the year. The move isn't all that surprising given Braunstein found his role significantly diminished during another major executive shake-up back in September...

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

'Yet Another Bank': One week after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a civil case against JPMorgan Chase alleging fraud in how Bear Stearns packaged and sold mortgage-backed securities, Wells Fargo finds itself being sued by the government for nearly a decade's worth of "reckless" mortgage lending. U.S. prosecutors (not affiliated with Schneiderman's mortgage task force, though he has promised more suits are on the way) are seeking "hundreds of millions...