regulation-reform

Jury's Still Out on CARD Act

01/25/13

Our analysis is agnostic on whether the costs are proportional to the benefits. But we find the claim that the CARD Act has had no cost to cardholders to be too hopeful based on current data.

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How to Stymie Mortgage Lending: QM Rule Edition

01/25/13

What the mortgage industry wanted was a clear-cut rule from the CFPB. What it received was 800-plus pages of confusion.

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Guns, Drugs, and Banks: None Can Be Controlled

01/24/13

Why do we instinctively cower to power after financial crises and human tragedies? And what can be done about it?

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We Need a Politician Like Carter Glass

01/24/13

The lawmaker behind the Federal Reserve and Glass-Steagall Acts understood that unless legislation imposes specific rules, including clear limits on financial institutions' activities, we are bound to have lax regulation, excessive speculation, and crises.

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We're a Long Way from Bedford Falls Banking

01/24/13

A recent BankThink post bemoans the one-size-fits-all application of Basel III. But the reason capital rules have become so sweeping is because banks have become bigger, more complex and more connected to the global economy.

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QM Rule Shows Why the CFPB Should Be Abolished

01/23/13

Political denial and cover-up are in the CFPB's DNA. The agency was predestined to be overbearing, which will only hurt borrowers in the long run.

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'Frontline' Learns Firsthand Why Wall Street Is 'Untouchable'

01/22/13

Why haven't any senior Wall Street executives gone to jail for the financial crisis? PBS' "Frontline" is the latest mass media outlet to ask this increasingly unanswerable question.

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GSE Reform Needn't Wait for Congress

01/18/13

Real GSE reform could take years. That's too bad, but in the meantime, the FHFA can start to redesign the securitization process - and phase out redundancies between Fannie and Freddie.

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State Laws Set Low Bar for Risk Governance

01/17/13

Shareholders, Congress and federal banking regulators are demanding greater accountability from executives and boards for risk management lapses. States ought to rise with the tide.

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Banking Safety Net Makes Wall Street Dangerous

01/17/13

Strip nonbank broker-dealers of their ties to the banking system, and the market will demand stronger capital and safer asset growth from these firms, making their failures less systemically dangerous.

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