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Payday Loan Reform Won't Kill Short-Term Credit—Just Make It Safer

04/09/15

While the CFPB's proposed rules may force payday lenders to adjust their business models, well-meaning ones should be able to operate in this new framework.

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Morning Scan: Dimon Rattles Regulators' Cages; Prosper's Fresh Funding Round

04/09/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Dimon Throws Down: Outspoken JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon isn't afraid to raise some hackles Â-- and that tendency is on full display in his annual letter to shareholders. The Financial Times and Bloomberg both focus on Dimon's prediction that regulatory requirements will be to blame for the next financial crisis. His letter argues that capital and liquidity rules have limited banks' ability to withstand market turmoil, and predicts the next crisis...

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Morning Scan: Against 'Audit the Fed'; Ex-Bankers Learn to Love the Startup Life

04/08/15

Wall Street Journal

When bankers leave Wall Street to chase their own startup dreams, they're bound to face a lifestyle adjustment. The paper interviews several "Wall Street exiles" about the transition "from a relatively coddled life of chauffeured town cars and teams of junior staffers to days filled managing the books and picking the office furniture." One anonymous interviewee admits to mourning the loss of his old firm's shoe-shine service, while another says taking the subway...

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Morning Scan: Turmoil at Bitcoin Foundation; Bank Service on Wheels

04/07/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Dudley Do-Rate: Rate hikes remain on the horizon for 2015 despite Friday's disappointing jobs report, according to New York Fed head William Dudley's Monday speech, as interpreted by the media. Dudley attributed sluggish economic results for the first quarter to "temporary factors," including a rough winter and the strong dollar's drag on exports. But he "expects inflation to firm and wages to pick up later this year," according to the Wall Street...

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Morning Scan: Big-Bank CEO Pay Ain't What It Used to Be; Of Rabbis and Wall Street

04/06/15

Wall Street Journal

Big-bank CEOs still make plenty of dough Â-- but the job's not as lucrative as it used to be. Pay for the top bananas at the five largest Wall Street firms "remained well below pre-crisis levels" at a collective $92.5 million last year, the paper reports, down 47% from pooled earnings of $173.6 million in 2006. Meanwhile, the average bank employee's paycheck reached a new high of $148,740 last year. "The dichotomy shows...

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Morning Scan: Silicon Valley Bank's Enviable Spot; Currency Volatility to Help Earnings

04/02/15

Wall Street Journal

Volatility in currency markets should give a boost to banks' first-quarter earnings. Currency market volatility rose 18% from Jan. 1 to mid-March, according to Deutsche Bank. However, not every bank will glean a benefit from the currency volatility. Citigroup is expected to report a decline in trading revenue because of its exposure to the Swiss franc. The irony is that JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and others remain at the center of government probes into...

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In-Store Branch DNA: Well Worth Replication

04/01/15

In-store bankers are experts in finding creative ways to catch potential customers' attention. That's a skill that every modern bank employee needs to hone.

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Morning Scan: New Credit Score for the Underbanked; Ex-Chargers Linebacker Sues B of A

04/01/15

Wall Street Journal

Fair Isaac is developing a new credit score that's aimed at the millions of people who currently don't have credit scores and are cut off from auto loans, credit cards and mortgages. About 53 million Americans are now unable to qualify for most types of bank-issued consumer credit because they don't have a credit history. The product "is largely a response to banksÂ' desire to boost lending volumes by increasing loan originations to...

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Morning Scan: Federal Agents Nabbed in Silk Road Heist; JPMorgan Execs Deposed

03/31/15

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

When Nob Met Dread: Two federal officials assigned to investigate Silk Road, the digital marketplace for drugs that only accepted payment via Bitcoin, have been charged with illegally using the defunct black-market service to enrich themselves. An agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and a Secret Service agent have resigned and been charged with money laundering and wire fraud. The DEA agent, named Carl Mark Force IV, has also been charged with...

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Morning Scan: Mortgage Foreclosure Cases May Soon End; Barney Frank's Autobiography

03/30/15

Wall Street Journal In a review of former Sen. Barney Frank's new autobiography, "Frank: A Life in Politics From the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage," the Wall Street Journal recounts what former House Speaker Tip O'Neill told his colleague: Frank could have been the first Jewish Speaker of the House of Representatives, had he not been gay. James Kirchick's review says little about Frank's work on banking matters, and doesn't mention the Dodd-Frank Act. "Many readers'Â...

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