Banks can boost mortgage profits with the help of direct call centers and products like adjustable-rate mortgages and jumbo loans, writes Stratmor Group's Garth Graham.

The mortgage interest tax deduction is supposed to encourage homeownership among low- and middle-income Americans. But it primarily benefits higher-income taxpayers, according to a new study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... B of A to Pay for 'Hustle': Federal Judge Jed Rakoff ordered Bank of America to pay $1.3 billion for selling toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as part of its so-called "Hustle" program. The $1.3 billion penalty was less than the $2.1 billion the government sought, but "greatly in excess of what the bank hoped to pay," the Financial Times reported. Rakoff, who called the scheme "brazen fraud," also…

Bank owners can make more objective decisions about whether it's the right time to sell by comparing the value of holding onto the bank to its private market price and instating an external review process, writes consultant J.V. Rizzi.

Community banks are disappearing and big banks' global power is on the wane. Regulators should take steps to reverse these trends so that all Americans have access to the financial services they need, according to the American Bankers Association's Wayne Abernathy.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Forex Probe Update: U.S. prosecutors have stepped up their probe into Barclays' alleged foreign exchange manipulation, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Financial Times all report. The London bank said the U.S. extended a pact known as a "nonprosecution agreement" in the investigation. The new pact gives the Justice Department more time to decide if Barclays breached the 2012 nonprosecution agreement it had previously signed not to commit crimes in…

Payments startups may be fast and smart, but banks have compliance know-how, an established customer base and physical branches that will help them hook customers on new products.

Like the Internet of the 1980s, today's payment systems are a mishmash of disparate, closed networks that cannot communicate with one another effectively. Distributed ledger technologies can solve this problem.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... UBS Dark Pool Probed: Swiss bank UBS disclosed on Monday the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the New York attorney general are investigating its dark pool operation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank got an inquiry about high-speed trading, the Financial Times said. Barclays is already the focus of an Eric Schneiderman probe into whether it has deceived electronic trading investors. Dark pool trades are…

Studies of whether big banks enjoy implicit funding subsidies should take into account the effect of post-Dodd-Frank legislation and regulation, write Aaron Klein and Peter Ryan of the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The solar industry is still developing, but Mercatus CEO Haresh Patel has suggestions for banks that want to get in on it now.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... JPMorgan Unloads: JPMorgan Chase agreed to sell a $1.3 billion debt and securities portfolio to Bain Capital's Sankaty Advisors, both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported. Chase's Hong Kong-based portfolio group, called the Global Special Opportunities Group, invests mainly in high-yield debt. Chase's sale of the unit is part of the wider trend of big banks unloading assets to comply with rules that they improve capital ratios and comply with the…

Airbnb’s recent rebranding featured personal narratives from employees and customers as well as stories that emphasized the company’s local roots. Banks can apply these lessons to their own marketing and product development, according to consultant Sam Maule.

Everyone these days is chasing Apple and Amazon.com. But are the strengths of these brands applicable to the banking industry?

Receiving Wide Coverage ... Foreign Banks to Face the Music: Banks outside the U.S. will have to deal with loan losses sooner under a new accounting rule issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. "Under the new standard, non-U.S. banks will have to book loan losses based on their expectation that future losses will occur, beginning in 2018," the Wall Street Journal reports. "That is expected to speed up the booking of losses and require greater…