The Swiss National Bank's unexpected move to unpeg the country's currency from the euro serves as a reminder that central bank policies and actions can be hard to predict. Bank risk managers should stay on guard.
Outcries about regulators' negligence in ending too big to fail ignore a number of major developments since the financial crisis, including the new orderly liquidation authority and the overhaul of the regulatory capital framework.
Many colleges partner with banks to offer students special accounts. Unfortunately, the benefits of these accounts are grossly overstated and can even cause harm.
An admission of guilt would help investors make informed decisions about the validity of credit ratings and open up the rating business to healthy competition on the basis of quality.
The Massachusetts senator wants to induce more competition and diversity in the banking industry and improve the economic prospects of a majority of Americans. Both changes would benefit the financial services sector as a whole.
Regulators are confused about whether to use capital buffers as a tool to stamp out too big to fail banks or as a cushion to protect the financial system from the next crisis. But the Dodd-Frank Act gives them a clear mandate: to eliminate market expectations of a government bailout.
The CFPB has a historic opportunity to fix the small-dollar loan market by emulating Colorado's reforms. That would mean requiring all payday lenders to offer affordable installment payments and cracking down on deceptive practices like loan flipping.
