American Banker: The Financial Services Daily

Ben Lawsky, commissioner of the New York State Department of Financial Services (Image: Bloomberg News)

Flurry of Subpoenas Raises Force-Placed Stakes

The financial industry's troubles with a controversial type of insurance coverage appear to be spreading to new areas as New York State's Department of Financial Services issues dozens of subpoenas.

Risk Management

Breaking News

Poll Results: Do Q4 Results Indicate Banking is Becoming More Staid, Less Profitable? 06:51PM ET

Tennessee Suffers Two Bank Failures After Nearly Decade-Long Break 05:46PM ET

CFPB Hears from Students About New Financial Aid Disclosure 05:17PM ET

Google Payments Executive Resigns 03:30PM ET

Citizens Republic Makes Progress Reinventing Its Loan Book 03:15PM ET

Citigroup Exits Proprietary Trading 01:58PM ET

Steve Trager, president and CEO of Republic Bank and Trust Co.

A Challenging Question

There have always been regulatory impediments to the pursuit of profit, but bankers are increasingly worried about how to preserve the self-determination they have left.

Community Banking

Regulation & Reform

Technology

Vikram Desai, president of advanced services for EarthLink Inc.

Remember EarthLink? It's Back — as a Banking Vendor

In the decade since many industry experts wrote off EarthLink as yesterday's ISP, it has been on an acquisitive tear, reinventing itself as a vendor for banks.

Regulation & Reform

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (Image: Newscom)

Could Mortgage Investigation Unit Move Settlement Forward?

AGs and liberal groups that have withheld support for settlement are hailing the new task force announced in the State of the Union.

Consumer Finance

Image: Twentieth Century Fox / LucasFilm

Wells Fargo Does Hollywood

Banks are going to new lengths to burnish their image in the public eye, with Wells Fargo & Co. now taking its very own red carpet moment.

Technology

Call for Nominations

What are the top community bank IT initiatives of the past year? We have our own ideas, but we welcome your ideas, too. Please tell us about the best small-bank tech projects you know of.

European Sellers of Loans, Bonds Hit the U.S. Road

Underwriters are taking advantage of the broader U.S. market's liquidity, as well as a favorable dollar-to-euro exchange. U.S. investors and banking companies are among the beneficiaries.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Community Banking

Tennessee Remains Failure Free, But for How Long?

Tennessee has managed to escape the downturn relatively unscathed, and hasn't had a bank fail since 2002. But a new crop of undercapitalized banks and other strugglers have put 10% of the state's banks at some risk of failure.

Risk Management

Discover Facing FDIC, CFPB Enforcement Action on Payment Protection Plans

Discover Financial Services is anticipating a joint enforcement action from the FDIC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the marketing of its credit card payment protection products.

Mergers & Acquisitions

First Niagara CEO John Koelmel (Image: Bloomberg News)

First Niagara's Focus on "No-Boom, No Bust" Markets Pays Off, CEO Says

John Koelmel touts quarterly profit in interview, but merger and integration costs weighed on the Buffalo bank — and more are on the way.

BankThink

Eugene A. Ludwig is a founder and the chief executive of Promontory Financial Group LLC. He was the comptroller of the currency in the Clinton administration

Next Round of Stress Tests May Be Destabilizing

Historically, regulators and bankers would have made a strong case that this kind of supervisory effort, however important, should absolutely be kept private.

American Banker Magazine

12 Big Ideas for 2012

How to handle hot deposits, when to be more forgiving of delinquent customers, what the heck is a transaction genome, and other things for bankers to think about in the new year.

Bank Technology News

The Bank CIO Agenda For 2012

U.S. bank IT spending is showing some signs of life, with experts predicting a steady, if unspectacular, rise in investment. CIOs of Huntington Bank, Capital One and BB&T reveal what they're buying next year.

Benchmarking & Data

Ranking the Banks

A comprehensive database of bank rankings, league tables and vital statistics
Rate Tracker

Monitor and look up average deposit and loan rates by product and by state
Board Reports

A quarterly assessment of the key metrics that drive bank performance
Product Management

Comparative analysis of deposit, loan, and investment product performance
Profitability Management

Principal operating ratios that dissect non- and net-interest income and expenses
Regulatory Reports

A peer evaluation of compliance based on the primary regulatory metrics and ratios
Risk Management Reports

Comprehensive assessment of capital, asset quality, liquidity and performance