Viewpoints Letters
Viewpoint: Let's Not Try to Manage Failure
American Banker | Mar 17Regulators cannot be successful in regulating FIs so they don't fail. The best that can be done is to set up living wills or to not allow SGFIs to exist.
Column: Reform Mustn't Come at Innovation's Expense
American Banker | Mar 17Microcredit lending, securitization markets and, yes, even structured finance and trading activities are examples of financial innovations that can be harnessed for good, or squandered in fear.
Viewpoint: What Bernanke Should Have Told Congress
American Banker | Mar 16Last month, the Fed Chairman addressed the House without acknowledging that "easy money" policies were responsible for the financial crisis. Here is what I wish he had said.
Viewpoint: Property Inspectors Need Better Pay, Training
American Banker | Mar 16With stakes so high, it's time the industry steps up and protects the property inspectors who are working to protect lenders' assets.
Viewpoint: Paper Problems Impede Hamp
American Banker | Mar 16At least one problem bedeviling Washington can be fixed quickly by lenders using existing technology, pleasing borrowers and boosting compliance.
Viewpoint: Don't Tamper with Federal Reserve
American Banker | Mar 15Its status as the world-class safety and soundness regulator at the intersection of rules, principles and instinct hasn't changed. Sadly, it seems to be open season on the Fed.
Feedback: B of A Is Smart to Make Things Simpler
American Banker | Mar 11A key consideration seems to be missing from the discussion of Bank of America's decision to stop authorizing purchases on debit cards that trigger overdraft fees.
Feedback: CU Biz Lending Limit Isn't the Issue
American Banker | Mar 10[Re "Politics, Economics Clash in CUs' Bid to Lift Cap," March 8]Doubling the credit unions' member business loan limit won't increase small business lending or create jobs.
Viewpoint: Consumers' Chance to Have a Voice at the Fed
American Banker | Mar 10President Obama now has an historic opportunity to make sure that the small group of governors that runs the Fed represents consumers and not just the banking industry.
Viewpoint: Risk-Retention Bill Misdirected
American Banker | Mar 10As reform moves forward, Congress should focus risk retention on securities and high-risk assets that have been proven to generate high defaults, market imbalances and disruptions.
Feedback: In Defense of Brokered Deposits
American Banker | Mar 10[Re "As Regs Pinch, Banks Cool to Brokered Deposits," Feb. 18 Community Banking supplement] It would be impossible to give you a full presentatation, so let me just make some fundamental points for your consideration.
Column: FDIC Is a Model for Resolution
American Banker | Mar 9We should build on the FDIC's model to create consistency between banks and nonbanks, as well as between large and small institutions, and eliminate the risk of a disorderly collapse.
Viewpoint: Crank Up 'Underwater'-Homeowner Help
American Banker | Mar 9We will ask the administration to match the recent $1.5B foreclosure program designed mainly to help Nevada by allocating $1.5B in unused Tarp funds to HUD-approved home counselors.
Viewpoint: Seven Ways to Make $30B Do More for Small Business
American Banker | Mar 8The most important idea raised at the bankers meeting was not to limit the $30B to community banks, but make available up to half of that money to the roughly 800 CDFIs nationwide.
Viewpoint: Preaching Card Clarity, Practicing the Opposite
American Banker | Mar 8Issuers need to create credit card contracts, monthly statements, and interactive guides that give customers an opportunity to make informed decisions and protect themselves.
