Investor-owned ratings agencies would send a message to mutual fund shareholders, retirement plan participants and other investors that steps have been taken to avoid repeating the inaccurate ratings that contributed so heavily to the financial crisis.
Housing affects too many Americans to simply cast out government involvement, especially where the government-sponsored entities and Ginnie Mae are concerned.
There will always be a need for small-dollar loans. But loans that trap people in debt and burden borrowers with triple-digit interest rates are simply abusive.
Created under the guise of a program to root out fraud and illegal activity, this initiative has been used by Obama administration bureaucrats to pressure banks to end relationships with businesses they consider objectionable or "high risk."
A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a case for the CFPB's debt collection regulations and the dangers of "real-time" transaction monitoring.
The compliance costs associated with the CFPB's proposed reforms to the payday lending would force many small businesses to close shop, reducing access to short-term credit for many Americans.
Regulators can avoid extensive, after-the-fact investigations of banks' illegal actions by standardizing the form and content of transaction data so they can spot compliance problems in real time.
Breaking up the biggest banks could wind up increasing the chances of a taxpayer bailout, while reinstating Glass-Steagall would only serve to make banks less stable.
A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on derisking, biometric technology and Paul VolckerÂ's proposal to reform the regulatory system.
