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American Banker - On Focus and In Depth

Friday, November 20, 2009, as of 04:45 PM EDT

Banker's Blog Watch

Track industry talk and discussion via headline feeds from industry blogs selected by American Banker editors.
(Let us know what you think about this service.)

 

Today's Featured Post:

Credit Slips

Lehman & Barclays
Lehman has sued Barclays over the incredibly rushed sale of Lehman's key brokerage assets to Barclays a year ago. No doubt the financial industry crowd will use this to further promote their argument that chapter 11 does not work for large financial firms, thus supporting the need to reinvent the wheel create a new "resolution authority."



Bank Lawyer's Blog

  • Another Day of Progress in D.C.
    posted on November 19, 2009
    Whatever Mark Zandi's smoking, I want a toke. Testifying today before the Congressional Oversight Panel that "oversees" the Treasury Department's TARP, Mr. Zandi made a bold assertion. Mark Zandi, the chief economist and cofounder of Moody´s Economy.com, said that banks...
  • To The Contrary
    posted on November 18, 2009
    Former client and long time banker Pat Dalrymple (the subject of a previous post) has joined the world of banking bloggers with "Contrabanker: A Bank Contrarian's Blog"). If Pat's first post is any indication, he's going to provide a no-holds-barred,...

The Bankwatch


Celent Banking Blog

  • Research Agenda 2010
    posted on November 18, 2009
    I am planning my next year’s research agenda. I have identified a number of interesting topics to work on, for which I’d appreciate your input: how would you vote for, in order of priority, given the following titles? a> Transaction Banking for regional banks b> Strategies for Trade Finance c> Processes, People, and Technology in Transaction Banking d> Status of electronic [...]
  • In house or outsource: A request for input
    posted on November 16, 2009
    To run in house or outsource? At some banks this is a religious question. At others it is not even a question at all. Finally at some it is an ongoing debate. Celent hopes to write a report about this topic analyzing data across a wide range of US banks. The questions we ask? What [...]

Financial Services Club

  • What has MiFID done for democracy?
    posted on November 20, 2009
    Fascinating meetings with the Russian exchanges RTS and SPIMEX yesterday. After my reference to military intelligence yesterday, you may wonder whether SPIMEX is something to do with finding out who started the swine flu pandemic but no, it´s the St....
  • Talking about bank failures
    posted on November 20, 2009
    As we look towards the end of the year with America suffering one of the worst year's for bank failures in recent history (over 120 so far this year), I was impressed by an image at the Tretyakov Gallery of...

Credit Slips

  • Son of Pine Gate
    posted on November 18, 2009
    As Credit Slips readers may know, a group of key Philadelphia newspapers are currently in chapter 11. The debtor that owns the papers owes its secured lenders north of $290 million. It wants to sell itself under a plan to...
  • Lehman & Barclays
    posted on November 17, 2009
    Lehman has sued Barclays over the incredibly rushed sale of Lehman's key brokerage assets to Barclays a year ago. No doubt the financial industry crowd will use this to further promote their argument that chapter 11 does not work for...

Payments Views


Calculated Risk


Bankervision

  • The task worker divide
    posted on November 19, 2009
    I´m sitting here in London Heathrow airport, and scrolling through all last night´s Tweets on my Twitter client. I notice that, in addition to the Tweets I put up from #sdthinks, where I was speaking last night, there are lots of people I follow who were also at conferences doing live updates. There are lots of people who are at airports in work time and clearly do their work mobile, whilst keeping in touch with everyone else. They are lots who are arguing about Enterprise Architecture, or other professional stuff, in real-time. There are lots who, in time-zones opposite mine,...
  • Evidence of the chip
    posted on November 18, 2009
    A week or so ago, I wrote about the "chip" that some Microsoft employees seem to have implanted in their brains. A couple of people contacted me to tell me the days of the "chip" were long gone. Apparently that´s not the case, however. And here is the evidence. Profile Microsoft evangelist Don Dodge was laid off, recently, in the latest round of cuts. As he says on his blog: Microsoft announced more layoffs today, and I was one of them. This was a total surprise to me, and management offered no explanation. This is pretty standard procedure, mostly for...
 
 

Javelin Strategy & Research

  • Good News Holiday Shoppers: All Large Bank Debit Cards Now Offer Zero-Liability; Banks also Bolster ID Fraud Prevention and Minimize SSN Use
    posted on November 19, 2009
    Javelin´s Bank Safety Scorecard Rates Providers on 50 Customer Safety Measures Bank of America, Regions Bank and Wells Fargo Rank Highest San Francisco, CA, November 19, 2009 Javelin Strategy & Research (http://www.javelinstrategy.com) today issued a research report ranking top banks and credit unions on 50 identity fraud Prevention, Detection and ResolutionTM capabilities. The report scores how [...]
  • American Express acquires Revolution Money
    posted on November 19, 2009
    I’m buried with client and internal deliverables, so this note on the blogosphere will be brief. Smart move in buying Revolution Money AE, and not a surprising one. AE owns the upper end of the market, even if offerings such as Visa signature are encroaching fast. I’ve always wondered why Discover gets little attention as [...]

The Balance Sheet

  • Notes on This Week´s Column: The Debt Bias
    posted on November 15, 2009
    My column this week deals with one of the more important but less commented-on aspects of the American financial system: the way government policy encourages individuals and companies to take on debt. Given that...
  • Video: Elizabeth Warren
    posted on November 15, 2009
    James Surowiecki spoke with Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School and the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), about the importance of transparency in consumer financing,...

Bank Innovation

  • The Social Entrepreneurship of Goldman Sachs
    posted on November 20, 2009
    Goldman Sachs´ CEO Lloyd Blankfein and his largest investor, The Wizard of Omaha, Warren Buffett , descended from the mystical heights of Valhalla with some startling news. They were bearing a new mythical golden ring. As they held the ring aloft they made a bold proclamation. They would embark on one of the grandest social entrepreneurial programs of all time by offering some of the rings precious power, about $500 million worth, to capital starved small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). The 10,…
  • SPREAD 'EM: Is the Thermometer Rising on Credit Prices?
    posted on November 20, 2009
    Credit prices have taken a sudden turn over the last two days, with spreads widening more than 20% since Tuesday.

    While there is some modulation in the TED spread today, down 1.671% to 25.71 at 9:38 a.m. ET, the measure of the difference between three-month Treasurys and the three-month Libor rate, jumped to 26.15 yesterday. On Tuesday the TED closed at 21.66.

    TED SPREAD


CU Soapbox


The Daily Beast

  • The Best Job No One Wants
    posted on November 19, 2009
    A new CEO for Bank of America could be chosen as early as Sunday, reports Charlie Gasparino. Inside a selection process beset by rivalries, government pressure-and most of all a lack of interest from top candidates. The board of directors of Bank of...
  • Wall Street's Grinch Speaks
    posted on November 17, 2009
    With bonus season beginning, Charlie Gasparino talks to pay czar Kenneth Feinberg about limiting executive compensation, how Congress will manage risk, and why CEOs are scared. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is a very worried man, but not for the...

Digital Money Forum

  • What's the alternative?
    posted on November 20, 2009
    [Dave Birch] There are plenty of extinct "alternative" payment mechanisms already: c2it, Yahoo PayDirect, Billpoint, eMailMoney and so on. And there are a few that survive. But where does the label come from? I saw the comedian/musician Tim Minchin tell...
  • "I Know Nick Hughes"
    posted on November 19, 2009
    [Paul Makin] I went to a very enjoyable event yesterday evening, held to launch a joint DFID/CGAP report, entitled "Scenarios for Branchless Banking in 2020". There were presentations by two of the report's authors, Mark Pickens and David Porteous, describing...

Netbanker


The Week Ahead in the Capital Markets


GonzoBanker

  • Five Things Gonzo Marketers Do
    posted on November 16, 2009
    Being a bank marketing officer today is like standing on a shooting range with a target Scotch-taped to your chest. You´re constantly under attack.
  • Bankers on the River Charles: BAI Retail Delivery 2009
    posted on November 9, 2009
    The idea drought may be making BAI's Retail Delivery show too easy to beg off. Here are some thoughts for attendees and organizers to start turning the tide from disinterest to action.