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Kenneth H. Thomas
thomas-kenneth
Job title
President
Company/organization
K.H. Thomas Associates
BankThink Think Tank
About

Dr. Thomas is the nation's leading expert and author on the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA. He has a Ph.D. in business and applied economics and an M.A. in finance from The Wharton School as well as an MBA from the University of Miami and a B.S.B.A. (High Honors) from the University of Florida. Dr. Thomas taught banking and monetary economics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for 42 years. He is also a 20-plus year member of the board of directors and chairman of the nominating/corporate governance committee of a community bank. As chairman of the board of trustees and co-founder/founder of two CRA qualified investment impact bond funds since 1999, he has facilitated the deployment of several billions of dollars of community development investments in disadvantaged communities. Dr. Thomas was a recipient of one of the first three awards of excellence from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, or NCRC, in 1994, the other two awarded to Representative Joe Kennedy and Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig. As a consultant to both the private and federal sectors, his thought leadership is reflected in today's existing CRA regulations.   

Areas of expertise
Regulation and compliancePolitics and policy
CONTRIBUTED STORIES
  • BankThink Will the CRA political football be kicked to the Supreme Court?

    Regulatory justice prevailed with a federal district court injunction staying the politically motivated CRA final rule, the most complicated and convoluted regulation ever. Depending on election results, it may end up in the Supreme Court.

    October 14
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink Big banks' closed branches are community bankers' big opportunities

    Branches are being closed at a record pace because of mergers and financial reasons. If a closed branch is in a good location and meets certain other conditions, it can represent a low-cost way for a community bank to expand.

    September 9
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink A brain drain at bank boards raises questions about risk management

    Congress publicly excoriated the supervisors and CEOs of last year's trifecta of megabank failures. But, what about the directors who were supposedly overseeing those CEOs? The entire chain of bank oversight needs to be rethought from congressional hearing rooms to banking board rooms.

    August 12
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink Bidenflation? Trumpflation? No. The real problem is Covidflation.

    The most important issue on voters' minds is inflation, and the inflation blame game has heated up with the upcoming presidential election. Putting politics aside, an objective economist would blame neither candidate, since the underlying cause of our inflation, like so many other problems today, was COVID-19.

    July 8
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink The FDIC's badly inaccurate 'problem bank list' should be shut down

    All eyes are on the FDIC's toxic workplace scandal and the resultant resignation of its longtime director. However, another problem not being discussed is the agency's "problem bank list."

    June 10
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink Why don't credit unions disclose their branch deposit data like banks?

    Branch office deposit data is among the most confidential information at a bank, especially those with many branches. Why have regulators made this sensitive competitive data public for banks and thrifts annually for over 50 years but not for credit unions?

    May 13
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink Use the Capital One-Discover deal to reshape the credit card market

    Any approval of the proposed Capital One-Discover merger must come with a pro-competitive 1% interchange fee condition to benefit consumers and small businesses and challenge the dominating duopolist Visa, and a pro-community 5% deposit reinvestment condition.

    April 8
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink For bankers facing the new CRA rule, it's time to 'Fight the Fed'

    "Don't fight the Fed" is the mantra of investors. But, when the Fed does not allow banks to meet the needs of their communities and shareholders through unfair regulations, like the politically motivated CRA final rule, bankers have no choice but to go to court to seek regulatory justice.

    March 11
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink Credit unions' CRA exemption helped sink Navy Federal

    The nation's largest credit union allegedly engaged in racial discrimination resulting in calls for further investigations and regulations. Had Navy Federal been subject to the Community Reinvestment Act it may have avoided this problem.

    February 12
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
  • BankThink Banks are under extreme regulatory assault; it's time to act like it

    Banks need to mount an aggressive legal response to the onslaught of intrusive new rules being promulgated by their prudential regulators.

    January 8
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    Kenneth H. Thomas
    K.H. Thomas Associates
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23RD ANNUAL THE MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN BANKING

Meet The Most Powerful Women in Banking 2025, our annual ranking of the executives at the pinnacle of the industry.

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