The House Financial Services Committee is set to vote on a bill that would benefit a single bank - one whose CEO has made contributions to many of the bill's co-sponsors. And people wonder why Americans are cynical about politicians.
It isn't sufficient to establish a chief risk officer position that reports to the CEO or board. The CRO has to be empowered to oversee all aspects of risk in an integrated fashion.
All would be well advised to confine criticisms and recommendations to mitigating JPMorgan's systemic risk. What remain are decisions that affect stakeholders. The bank's owners have already spoken in favor of their CEO, and rightly so.
If we had a legal entity identifier in place computers would have been capable of aggregating the risk exposures building up in JPMorgan's hedged positions and across its many counterparties.
Misinformation from various sources could cause compliance officers to needlessly prohibit bankers from making perfectly legal campaign contributions. Don't let a false impression chill freedom of speech.
Most of us in the banking community are seeking - after the crash - to rebuild trust, shareholder and client loyalty, businesses and lives. As time goes on and memories fade, we should remember the job is not finished
Certain loans were well underwritten and structured, and are underperforming now solely because of job losses. Drastic approaches like modifications and refis are unnecessary to help these ordinarily creditworthy homeowners.
Senator Nelson W. Aldrich introduced a plan to create a central regulatory authority over commercial banking, investment banking and the stock market in 1912. Sound familiar?
Prices garnered prior to the crisis have little in common with what banks are worth today or what they will likely be worth in the future. Yet boards and managers remain irrationally fixated on outdated, irrelevant valuations.
