Alex J. Pollock

A new analysis of mortgage data demonstrates how default rates, not just approval and decline rates, can be used to evaluate findings of unfair treatment in lending.

Debates on the issue often focus on how lending decisions affect certain demographic groups, but those analyses tend to ignore an important factor: default rates.

The reserve bank's proposal to address banks and nonbanks that remain "too big to fail" does not include two of the largest such institutions: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Lenders should be encouraged to hold more credit risk in the mortgage market, rather than having it foisted on Fannie and Freddie.

The GSEs are on their way to paying back the money they owed the government under the original bailout deal made at the height of the financial crisis, making 2018 an opportune time for an overhaul of the housing finance market.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency must set fees equal to the cost of capital that private banks hold against similar risk, not just the amount of capital that Fannie and Freddie think are right for themselves.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council is masquerading as an analytical, objective body that more accurately reflects the Dodd-Frank Act's aim to expand the power of bureaucrats.

The biggest change in banking in the last 60 years is the shift in balance sheets from business lending to real estate finance and therefore more risk tied to volatile real estate prices.

Under Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s proposed legislation, some banks might raise capital levels to get regulatory relief. Others might choose to grin and bear the current level of micromanagement. The result would be a more diverse banking sector.

The potentially wide-ranging effects of an appeals court decision in Midland Funding v. Madden could deal a serious blow to preemption under the National Bank Act.

Preparing for the inevitable future credit crisis by setting aside more loss reserves is a step toward avoiding government bailouts.

We won't have another nationwide bubble for 35 years or so. By then, cautionary tales from 2007-09 will seem irrelevant to those with modern skills and advanced risk management capability.

The banking industry suffered credit crises in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. An unavoidable conclusion is that its loan loss reserves were in all cases too small.