Karen Petrou
Managing PartnerKaren Petrou is a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics.
Karen Petrou is a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics.
The gulf between those at the upper ends of the wealth ladder and lower-income Americans has worsened markedly since the financial crisis, despite the trillions of subsidies that taxpayers provide for housing.
The advanced approach has limited value, eliminating it has no downside risks and regulators have better tools at their disposal.
The Federal Reserve’s next policy actions will have profound impact on whether the U.S. income and wealth gap grows even wider.
A protectionist banking policy could lead to reprisal from overseas regulators, financial instability and less cross-border business.
Large financial services firms are right to fight data-aggregation access, but they'll lose this fight to arguments based on innovation and "inclusion" if they do not quickly enhance their own value proposition.
The Trump administration will not approach economic policy like the Federal Reserve does, but the central bank can still address its own problems before the new administration intervenes.
Pretty much every merger of insurers and banks since the Citi-Travelers deal has come undone, but today's conditions support new-style marriages that make sense for shareholders and customers.
Requiring the bank regulators to disclose the numerical grades they give for capital, assets and other factors would subject them to the same market discipline they demand for banks.
Other countries have already lowered interest rates below zero, and the financial stability concerns of such a policy taking shape in the U.S. should not be dismissed.