International banks and other global private firms need to ensure that they do more than pay lip service to the privacy laws of sovereign states. In fact, the penalties for failure to comply with privacy laws in many countries can be very serious indeed.
There are a number of definitions included in the Volcker Rule that do not fully align to the definitions contained in the Federal Reserve BoardÂ's market risk capital rule.
Action by federal lawmakers, not guidance from the Justice Department, is whatÂ's needed to give banks comfort in providing services to marijuana businesses in states where pot is legal.
While waiting for regulators to fully understand the effects, small banks should proactively take measures to prepare themselves from the Volcker rule, just like their larger counterparts.
Money market funds possess trillions of dollars of short-term institutional investor funds. Now the SECÂ's proposed rule change for the industry may give banks an opportunity to attract institutional depositors with cash management offerings.
Lack of bank transparency makes it difficult to see the extent of bank exposures to emerging markets and whether financial firms are adequately capitalized to withstand unexpected losses from this market turmoil Â... or any other.
Under current conditions, bank executives would be crazy to hold back. If they get caught, they can pay their way out of the problems with shareholdersÂ' money. And if their misdeeds pay off as expected, the profits will goose their pay.
Benjamin Lawsky, New York's top financial regulator, rarely sounds ambivalent. But when the topic is something as unprecedented and complex as Bitcoin, the big questions appear to give him pause.
