Viewpoints: National/Global
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2011
Revamp Commercial Accounts for Reg Q Repeal
American Banker | Jun 16 Business checking accounts are in for a change now that interest will be permitted. Mid-size banks have the biggest opportunity to win over new clients.
Relationships Are Hard, Especially with Regulators
American Banker | Jun 15 There are no divorces in banking. Despite the many temptations, and even the occasional justifications, bankers cannot indulge their passions and treat examiners harshly.
Why Is Transparency So Foreign to Forex?
American Banker | Jun 13 The idea that only consumers need protection — or that they need more protection than a company or a public pension fund owned by consumers — is hogwash.
Incentive Pay for Execs Is Overrated
American Banker | Jun 7 Let's pay people what we think they're worth. Cut the management incentive travesty. Today's incentives cover a disguised escalation of what is essentially fixed pay.
What Can Be Won and Lost in Translation
American Banker | Jun 2 Banks that stop at the legal requirements for providing information in the customer's primary language are missing out on benefits that can directly affect the bottom line.
Strengthen Banks' Incentives to Choke Off Terrorists' Cash Flow
American Banker | May 24 Counterterrorism finance efforts should shift away from our current compliance-based structure toward one that rewards ingenuity and activism among banks.
Bank Exec Golden Parachutes Tangled Up
American Banker | May 19 Many senior executives of banks that were victims of the economic downturn are waiting for action by federal banking agencies on applications for modest severance payments.
Loan and Lease Loss Estimation Becomes a Heavier Burden for Banks
American Banker | May 19 It's always been a challenge to document the estimation for allowance for loan and lease losses to multiple constituencies. Increased regulatory scrutiny is making it harder.
Turn Dodd-Frank Resolution-Plan Proposal into an Advantage
American Banker | May 16 The resolution planning process can help identify opportunities to realize improved operational efficiencies, reduce costs and better allocate capital and funding.
Motor City Case Raises Red Flags on Redlining
American Banker | May 12 Regulatory emphasis on fair lending will continue to increase with stepped-up enforcement from the Justice Department, the new CFPB and increasingly active state attorneys general.
It's a Good Time to Be a Niche Bank
American Banker | May 11 As national and regional bank customers have become more dissatisfied on several levels it has been easier for niche banks to solicit and obtain referrals.
Overhaul Products After Reg Q Repeal
American Banker | May 9 Restoring the ability to pay interest on corporate accounts has spurred the need to develop new product and service structures as well as new rate and fee pricing models.
Set a Plan to Avoid Title II Receivership
American Banker | May 5 Though they may find it burdensome, financial companies should develop a well-reasoned resolution plan and remedy any deficiencies that the regulators identify.
Requirements for Bank Directors Are Shifting
American Banker | May 4 Many directors, chosen to enhance a bank's prestige and attract business, are lacking certain skill sets in technology, regulatory relations and loan origination.
Do Traders Make Good Bank Executives?
American Banker | May 2 I predict that the systemically important institutions will come increasingly to be led by people with a securities orientation. But is that good for banks?
Underbanked and Under Banks' Radar
American Banker | Apr 27 Banks are so busy tweaking products to shore up revenues that they're missing the most obvious revenue source — expanding offerings to the 43 million underbanked consumers.
Implementing Living Wills Gets Complicated
American Banker | Apr 26 The difficulty complying with the regulatory framework is great and will be even greater at the nonbank SIFI, which is for the first time coming under a prudential supervisory regime.
Illiteracy and Complexity Don't Mix Well
American Banker | Apr 20 A working knowledge and understanding of financial concepts is critical given the prospects of traditional government-sponsored safety nets, which are becoming less secure.
Walk the Walk: Regain Customers' Trust
American Banker | Apr 19 While banks have sold the notion of trust, they will now have to take more concrete steps to back it up, such as using behavioral analytics to create a more personal experience.
When Bad Things Happen to Good Banks
American Banker | Apr 14 Ending TBTF expectations that promote moral hazard is a worthy goal. But, as noted, systemic risk strikes not just evildoers and slackers, but also innocent bankers and counterparties.
Banking Solution Requires the Vision Thing
American Banker | Apr 13 After several years of the central government and the Fed grappling with the near collapse of the banking system, where we want to go, the "big picture" — is still absent from public view.
Help Customers Apply Their Financial Literacy
American Banker | Mar 30 Given the array and complexity of financial products, it's no wonder that consumers have a hard time managing their money. More choices and features are good, but only to a point.
Banks Need to Return to Fundamentals to Rebuild Their Image
American Banker | Mar 28 The solution is at the very core value of what big banks can be, and really should be, all about. The solution can be found in a single word: enterprise.
That Unpopular '70s Show, Stagflation, Is Rerunning
American Banker | Mar 23 Stagflation is the most terrifying of economic circumstances because it is the most difficult condition to combat and no one — especially today's policymakers — wishes for a return engagement.
A Banker's Road Map to Efficient Merger Integration
American Banker | Mar 21 Expense reduction in the target bank is usually the first topic addressed in considering an acquisition. Here are some questions we believe you should ask during this process.
Georgia Failed-Bank Ruling Favors Execs and Boards
American Banker | Mar 16 The road to recovery for shareholders of failed banks that lost value in the wake of the recession got tougher this past January, but bank directors and officers can breathe a sigh of relief.
Predict Better, Manage Risk Better
American Banker | Mar 15 Going forward, risk estimates should incorporate the potential future impact of changes in key economic indicators on credit risk.
Risk Is the Problem, Not Capital Levels
American Banker | Mar 14 Instead of pouring more capital into banks, substitute the equity capital of would-be borrowers and counterparties for some of the debt capital recently provided to them by banks.
How Do You Rate Your Fairness Awareness?
American Banker | Mar 8 Bank boards of directors and senior management should move promptly to establish a fairness-awareness culture to assure that every interaction the bank has with the consumer is fair.
Davos Points to Emerging Markets
American Banker | Mar 3 World Economic Forum members agreed there must be global unity, not only in supporting and maintaining the euro, but also during formulation of financial regulation policies.
Get a First-Mover Edge Under Basel III
American Banker | Feb 23 The changing landscape will require banks and their boards to be more engaged in all aspects of capital and liquidity planning. Here's what they can do to get ahead of planned changes.
The Worse News About Bad CRA Grades
American Banker | Feb 17 CRA rating downgrades are increasingly the result of regulatory findings that banks have engaged in illegal credit practices.
Don't Be Duped by Innovative Illusions
American Banker | Feb 17 In every boom, we hear about "creative" new financial products. Such products are not real innovations. They are merely new names for diminishing credit standards.
A Three-Point Plan to Make Dodd-Frank, and the U.S., Stronger
American Banker | Feb 15 Our shared national aspiration should be to ensure that financial markets are the most attractive, secure and welcoming ones in the world to finance, invest and raise capital.
Social Forces, More than Bad Actors, Led to Crisis
American Banker | Feb 10 Several factors, including residential racial segregation, present more fundamental challenges to the nation's economy than whether we figure out how to resolve 'too big to fail.'
Reassessing Management Assessment
American Banker | Feb 7 The first step in improving the industry's performance in assessing its managerial talent is to reduce the reliance of boards on the supervisors' numerical ratings.
Prepaid's Future Is Looking Better
American Banker | Jan 26 The fear is that not everyone will be able to afford a $10 or $15 a month checking account. Prepaid accounts offer banks consumers and banks alike a favorable alternative to checking.
George Vojta Left a Framework for Ethical Standards
American Banker | Jan 26 His insight hits the nail on the head. George had a vision of a financial and economic system that was market-based and socially responsible, which he called "moral capitalism."
Viewpoint: Investors Can't Afford to Neglect Loan Paperwork
American Banker | Jan 20 Investors must be able to ensure that the loans they buy have proper documentation and that they can prove their ownership in court if they have to.
Viewpoint: Leverage Limits Hurt Credit for Small Business
American Banker | Jan 18 Treating all loans alike unnecessarily harms small businesses. Most are innocent bystanders, but high administrative expenses keep their loans from generating strong returns.
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