The large municipalities can leverage their primary banking relationships to help their communities - as opposed to seeing all of the benefits accruing to the too-big-to-fail financial conglomerates.
The performance numbers will likely reinforce the reality that, absent significant changes, many banks simply cannot attain the level of profitability needed to remain viable.
The industry is like a 1920s Hollywood actor who does not understand the new technology, has not seen it coming and doesn't understand why the change is happening.
The agencies can use their discretion to act without discretion: treat all banks alike, big or small, and declare that no nonbanks are "systemically important," i.e. too big to fail.
It may seem like an additional burden to devote much intellectual energy to the federal budget. But business leader engagement is needed to set our fiscal house in order.
The original language describing a qualified mortgage was written more from the perspective of addressing certain market deficiencies rather than as an effective set of underwriting guidance.
Credit enhancement provided by private capital, in the form of mortgage insurance, is a time-tested and effective execution, and should be part of any effort to reform the housing markets.
The evidence presented so far for such claims is questionable, but the complainant has a track record of aggressive actions against financial services companies.
