BankThink

Banks have been barred from trading on their own account for almost a decade because Congress wanted to quash any potential conflict of interest. They should hold themselves to the same standard.

Small-business owners who can't get loans from traditional sources need alternative ways to access capital.

How many more decisions will CFPB Director Rohit Chopra make without appropriate stakeholder input?

A heads-down approach is no longer viable, but that doesn't mean executives need to address everything. Clear guidelines help leaders to decide when to speak up.

In their public battles over the issue of credit union buyouts of banks, bankers and credit union executives are forgetting to ask some key questions.

There are numerous groups that would love for financial institutions to embrace their causes. But executives need to think through the potential consequences of becoming politically active.

"Animal welfare scores low in priority at many financial institutions" in the U.S., says Merel van der Mark, animal welfare and finance program manager for Sinergia Animal, an organization based in Brazil that has been maintaining a ranking of how banks around the world perform on several measures of ethics with regard to animals.

Fees on overdrawn accounts have become so important to some banks' bottom lines that the industry can't be trusted to police itself.

An alternative metric might have led the Federal Reserve to take earlier action against rising prices.

A recent blog post from the agency raises more questions than it answers.