Word that a banking pool had returned its money to investors prompted our assistant managing editor to take a second look at the state of banking. The answers are discomforting.
Frontline employees and branch managers I've spoken to seem genuinely surprised and sometimes downright emotional to hear someone defending who they are and what they do.
Thinking you can do whatever you want to your customers because you're the biggest and most economically significant bank in the country is reckless and foolhardy.
Global enterprises - which do business with America's largest banks - beget mid-size suppliers that are served by regional banks. Small businesses in this supply chain are in turn nurtured by community banks.
How can anyone imagine that the solution is to charge for debit cards and not checks. You want customers to use checks instead? Avoiding paper makes cultural as well as financial sense.
The most dramatic reforms proposed by the European Commission could require audit-only firms, auditor rotation every nine years, and dual audits, as well as enhanced auditor reporting to shareholders.
Is Bank of America charging for debit cards because it is shortsighted or because it is too bloated to compete against smaller institutions for consumer accounts?
The "bigger is better" view was supported by the notion that economies of scale would allow for a multitude of virtuous outcomes. If only this were true.
