BankThink

The market for discount notes of the Federal Home Loan Banks represents an adequate Libor replacement since, in addition to meeting other criteria, yields on its securities are the result of actual arm's length transactions with some 80 approved debt underwriters worldwide.

Even those who don't agree with all five policy initiatives outlined in Andrew Haldane's "The Dog and the Frisbee" should embrace the underlying theme: It is never too late to rethink basic problems and policy prescriptions, and achieve better economic outcomes.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

SEC to the Rescue: If awards were handed out for Most Reliable Lagging Indicator in U.S. financial markets, the Securities and Exchange Commission, sad to say, would likely walk away with the gold. (Such are the vagaries of overseeing financial markets with a revolving-door staff and politically polarized Commission.) Now, in the wake of the flash crash, Knight Capital Group's near suicide and the Nasdaq-Facebook IPO flub, comes word that the SEC...

Banks can retain loyalty while changing their checking account fee structures by personalizing their service practices, continually improving upon the customer's experience and leveraging data generated by their call centers.

An increase in capital requirements may reduce earnings, minimize returns and contribute to a stagnant environment where loan production is at a minimum and bank acquisitions are very few.