John Heltman is the Washington Bureau Chief for American Banker. John previously edited American Banker Magazine and is the creator of American Banker's narrative podcast Bankshot. He was awarded the Grand Neal, the top honor bestowed by the Jesse H. Neal Awards, in 2019 for his narrative podcast series Nobody’s Home, which examines the economic and social impact of concentrated vacant housing. He was also named the 2019 McAllister Editorial Fellow at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He is a 2005 graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and lives in Baltimore, Md.
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Synthetic fraud — which combines real and false identifying information — has been a niche variety of identity theft for some time. But recent advancements in artificial intelligence and people's access to it might bring it into the mainstream in a big way.
July 4 -
The Federal Reserve's highly anticipated stress tests indicate that all banks are sufficiently capitalized to weather an economic downturn, but midsize banks were among those with the lowest minimum capital levels.
June 28 -
The Federal Reserve gave itself the power to raise capital requirements when risks are elevated to ensure banks can lend through the business cycle. But the rule hasn't been used, and it isn't clear it could ever work in practice.
June 27 -
Banks and credit unions have come out against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal to cut credit card late fees to $8, saying that figure is too low to cover costs. Finding a more suitable number might save the bureau a lot of trouble.
June 20 -
Just as the United States is getting good news in its war against inflation, the picture is very different across the pond. Some of that is bad luck, but there are lessons on what not to do as well.
June 13 -
The Federal Reserve has taken heat in recent years for its forays into climate stress testing, but the effects of climate change on the broader economy are getting harder to ignore.
June 6 -
Comerica's shoddy handling of its Treasury contract to manage Social Security and veterans benefits — including outsourcing fraud claims to a vendor in Pakistan — is emblematic of how the banking industry treats the poor.
May 30 -
A string of bank failures has increased scrutiny of banks' underwater Treasury securities — holdings that have traditionally been viewed as risk-free. As regulators reimagine the bank capital framework, they should reconsider whether anything can or should be considered riskless.
May 23 -
The debt ceiling is a law that can only end in disaster. Congress should replace it with a constitutional amendment that requires federal budgets to be balanced and passed on time.
May 16 -
Banks and market watchdogs are laying a lot of the blame for volatility in regional bank stocks on short sellers. But if regional banks and regulators want to get even, all they have to do is stay strong.
May 9
