BankThink

Euro Mess (Continued), Swapping Swaps Regulators, SIGTARP's Kiss-and-Tell

07/23/12

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Europe (Again): It might be taking on the sound of a broken record at this point, but the banking-sovereign-cultural crisis that has been wracking the continent for months has reached yet another "first-ever" crescendo. "Spain's borrowing costs reached a new euro-era high on Monday as fears about the country's wilting economy and government finances outweighed the eurozone's approval of loans to help Madrid recapitalise its banks," reports the Financial Times. Catalonia's addition...

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Model-Driven Regulation Fueled Bubble, Hobbles Recovery

07/23/12

The Basel capital accords are a serious policy mistake. It's time to return to financial supervision that relies on good judgment and on-site examinations.

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Financial-Firm Bar Codes Are Critical. Ask Your Corporate Clients

07/23/12

The 2008 crisis bruised nonfinancial companies that rely on the markets to raise money and hedge risk. Take it from consumer goods makers - global standards like LEI will make doing business easier, in good times and bad.

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Too Big to Behave, Not Too Big for Punishment

07/20/12

Ignoring JPMorgan Chase's chutzpah would be rewarding it. Penalize the bank instead, no matter how important an institution it is.

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Agencies' Diversity Efforts Have Come Far, But Not Far Enough

07/20/12

Dodd-Frank did its part to ensure the 20 federal financial regulatory agencies do right by minorities and women. How are things going so far? Good - but not great.

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Consumer 'Protection' Only Seems to End Up Hurting Them

07/19/12

From the Card Act to the CFPB to Durbin, new regulations succeed only in raising the prices or crimping availability of financial services. Memo to politicians: Google "unintended consequences."

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Libor Scandal Undermines Bankers' Claims of Overregulation

07/19/12

You can't claim to be a victim of watchdogs and at the same time blame watchdogs for being dumb, inept and disorganized.

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U.S., Wall Street Must Work with G20 on Financial-Firm 'Bar Codes'

07/19/12

U.S. regulators led the world in developing Legal Entity Identifiers. Now that the G20 has embraced the idea, though, we need to get on the same page with other nations.

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We Need a Speedy Catharsis for This Barclays Libor Affair

07/18/12

Mete out fitting punishments and get it over with. There are much more urgent issues in front of us.

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Labeling Nonbanks 'Systemically Risky' Is Itself a Risky Process

07/18/12

Firms may abandon prudent risk management practices such as hedging with derivatives to avoid the SIFI designation. Agencies should have to prepare the equivalent of an Environmental Impact Statement before slapping the SIFI stamp on a firm.

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