Viewpoints: Washington/Regulatory
Send a letter Back to Viewpoints home
2010
Column: Reform Mustn't Come at Innovation's Expense
American Banker | Mar 18 Microcredit 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 17 Last 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: Don't Tamper with Federal Reserve
American Banker | Mar 16 Its 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.
Viewpoint: Consumers' Chance to Have a Voice at the Fed
American Banker | Mar 11 President 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.
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.
Column: FDIC Is a Model for Resolution
American Banker | Mar 10 We 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: Stop Blocking FDIC Securitization Effort
American Banker | Mar 9 Many of the financial institutions that are criticizing the FDIC proposal on securitizations were responsible for the destruction of the private-label securitization market.
Viewpoint: Sustain the GSEs' Legacy
American Banker | Mar 2 Going forward, Congress and the administration should focus on the vital results that reform must ensure: liquidity and stability for long-term, fixed-rate, sustainable mortgages.
Viewpoint: Help Small Banks Help Small Businesses
American Banker | Feb 25 Supporting the ideal of a bank on the corner that knows every customer is not merely some nostalgic notion of America. Rather, it is a necessity for the success of our local economy.
Column: Put a New Mind-Set Ahead of New Regulations
American Banker | Feb 24 The private sector — perhaps the banking sector — should take the lead on forming a national bipartisan panel to come up with practical solutions to the problems facing our economy.
Viewpoint: Volcker Rule Not Only Potent Reform
American Banker | Feb 23 If some version of the current House reform bill is enacted with the Volcker Rule, financial institutions that de-bank to avoid the rule's restrictions could be subject to similar restrictions.
Viewpoint: Volcker Rule Has Many Flaws
American Banker | Feb 23 Legislating against unknowable future events by artificially restricting legitimate financial activities invites anticompetitive behavior and unintended consequences.
Viewpoint: How to Navigate Deposit Rate Lid
American Banker | Feb 18 Determine where your rates need to be to generate your required deposits, and compare those rates with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s national average.
Viewpoint: Don't Block the CFPA, Refine It
American Banker | Feb 16 Correctly designed, the Agency should be a more efficient way to protect the interests of retail banking customers and to oversee the credit and lending products offered by nonbank entities.
Viewpoint: Liquidity Risk Still on Regulatory Radar
American Banker | Feb 10 While Basel proposals will not take effect for several years, regulators are already taking aggressive actions relating to liquidity risk policies and contingency funding plans.
Viewpoint: Bank Defenses in State Litigation
American Banker | Jan 28 State attorneys general argue the Cuomo v. Clearing House Association decision permits and perhaps even encourages other state enforcement actions that would not intrude on the OCC's powers.
Column: 2010 Will Be Tough, But Don't Despair
American Banker | Jan 22 Last year was not an easy year to be a banker. This one will not be a great deal better. But if banks take the right steps now, opportunities will emerge in the long run.
Feedback: No Sympathy for Freeloaders
American Banker | Jan 22
To the Editor:
The big banks have had a 50 year subsidy by not having to pay insurance premium/fee/tax on all their liabilities, like community banks basically do (because small banks have small wholesale funds).
Viewpoint: Don't Blame Crisis on Risk Models
American Banker | Jan 20 Blame for the financial crisis cannot legitimately be laid on the doorstep of the risk models. Models are designed to reflect reality and prepare us for anticipated future states of reality.
Viewpoint: Rein In Free Ride for TBTFs
American Banker | Jan 20 If the contemporary banking system is to last another hundred years, the big banks might do well to heed Arianna Huffington's urging that customers transfer their deposits to community banks.
Viewpoint: Public Didn't Get a Clear Tarp Message
American Banker | Jan 8 The failure of our leaders to communicate the true nature of the CPP, and the media's mischaracterization of it, did severe and unnecessary damage to confidence in our nation's banking industry.
Viewpoint: Pay, Rating Practices Recipe for a New Crisis
American Banker | Jan 6 If mortgage originators required their employees' compensation tied to the performance of the mortgages they originated, bonuses could be paid over three years and the unpaid portion forfeited.
2009
Letter to the Editor: Who Are the Fat Cats Now?
American Banker | Dec 31
To the Editor:
I am fascinated by the FDIC's plan to use insider trading information to speculate on bank stocks. If you have the sole authority to close a bank, choose a buyer, then take a piece of the action on the back end, isn't this an unfair advantage?
Viewpoint: FDIC's Bad Bet on Small-Dollar Lending
American Banker | Dec 16 The FDIC should use its experience from the Small Dollar Loan Pilot Program to illustrate to members of Congress that an arbitrary cap on small-dollar loans, such as a 36% APR ceiling, is unrealistic.
Letter to the Editor: How SIFMA Sees the Debate
American Banker | Dec 11
To the Editor:
The Dec. 7 article "Creditors Fear New Resolution Process" incorrectly characterizes the debate over a resolution authority framework as a choice between only two options — relying on the bank insolvency statute or using only the bankruptcy code during a resolution — and portrays the SIFMA as opposing reform.
Viewpoint: Home Loan Bank Harm in Reg Reform
American Banker | Dec 9 Now, in the name of reform, this bill would impose new requirements and penalties on the Home Loan banks that would make them less effective no matter what the economic climate.
Viewpoint: Reprivatizing the Financial System
American Banker | Dec 4 Four steps we can take toward reprivatization: manage Tarp as a business; fix Fannie and Freddie; put negative interest rates on excess reserves; and encourage new banks.
Viewpoint: 20%-Haircut Amendment 100% Wrong
American Banker | Dec 2 The rationale for the Miller-Moore amendment is incredibly shortsighted in its aim of penalizing last-minute, short-term secured lenders to failing financial institutions.
Viewpoint: Treasury Resolution Plan Solves Nothing
American Banker | Nov 20 Treasury's proposal games resolution procedure and increases systemic risk and other "serious financial effects," thereby inviting the problem it purports to control.
Viewpoint: FDIC Prepayment Plan Is an Economic Loser
American Banker | Nov 13 Because the FDIC did not build the DIF during good economic times, it now proposes to harm banks economically just as the country is trying to recover. This is poor policy.
Viewpoint: Special Cases: Parent Fails, Bank Lives
American Banker | Nov 11 Since CIT and Capmark are new bank holding companies, they were not inextricably intertwined with their subsidiaries. Further, the banks themselves are involved in straightforward lending activity.
Viewpoint: Recapitalizing the GSEs to Shield Taxpayers
American Banker | Nov 6 The only viable option for limiting taxpayer expense is to set up a "Bad Fannie" and "Bad Freddie" holding the existing portfolios and a "Good Fannie" and "Good Freddie" as cooperatives.
Viewpoint: Third Time's the Charm for Toxic Asset Solution
American Banker | Nov 6 Only by adopting an approach that does not fatally impair capital, provide a taxpayer-supported windfall or burden the already strained federal budget can we prevent another false start.
Viewpoint: Treasury Bill Gets It Wrong on 'Too Big'
American Banker | Nov 4 Do we really want to give unelected officials a blank check to do more GMAC-type bailouts? Would it be too much to ask Congress to vote on any further bailouts rather than delegating the authority?
Viewpoint: Failure Resolution Plans Go Too Easy on Creditors
American Banker | Oct 30 Congress should require that all the secured creditor claims against a complex financial firm be convertible into equity to provide the funding to help support or save the firm from liquidation.
Viewpoint: Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Run
American Banker | Oct 28 I support the Treasury Department's announcement of core principles for regulatory capital standards. Higher capital standards will enhance the stability of the financial system.
Viewpoint: Revitalize Muni Bond Insurance Market
American Banker | Oct 28 The forgotten stepchild of the crisis, revitalizing the industry would let the municipal credit market serve the pent-up demand for credit products that can help local governments fund projects.
Viewpoint: Put Tarp Money to Work for Small Businesses
American Banker | Oct 23 Financial institutions would be pleased to be part of an effort that tapped unused or about to be repaid Tarp money. It could be a boost to new entrepreneurs along with indirect benefits to the banks.
Letter to the Editor: CFPA's 'Zombie' Effect
American Banker | Oct 21
To the Editor:
The analogy between Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act state regulatory authority and the effect of disparate state consumer protection laws under a Consumer Financial Protection Agency is specious, one might even say unfair and deceptive ['Preemption Fight Suffers From History,' Oct. 19].
Viewpoint: New York Fed Board Move Tone-Deaf on Public Service
American Banker | Oct 16 After the New York Fed's recent naming of two CEOs, one must wonder why it could not find qualified directors, with proven track records of public advocacy, to serve the public good.
