BankThink

A government guarantee must be accompanied by an obligation to responsibly serve creditworthy borrowers. Without that mechanism, many creditworthy taxpayers will be left with no access.

A well-structured mortgage business will generate strong revenues that can help offset declines elsewhere, regulatory challenges and interest rate volatility notwithstanding.

Selecting a property, hiring an architect, building designers, interiors, vendors and technology providers all encompass a project that amounts to a two-year business interruption. It does nothing to attract a client base.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Beijing to D.C.: This Isn't Funny: America's political dysfunction has reached such heights that even foreigners are feeling compelled to speak up. China and Japan, which have stocked up on trillions of dollars of Uncle Sam's IOUs, began publicly expressing concerns that the interest payments on them could be in peril. "The clock is ticking," Beijing warned in its first official comments on the stalemate, while urging Washington pols to "ensure the safety of the Chinese investments." China directly held $1.3 trillion in U.S. government bonds as of July, Treasury data indicates. In Japan, which itself is a world leader in political gridlock, finance minister Taro Aso on Tuesday called on "the United States to resolve its debt ceiling stand-off without delay," the Financial Times reports. Japan's Ministry of Finance is worried that a U.S. default could cause investors to dump the U.S. dollar and push up the yen, hurting the nation's international competitiveness, the FT said. Back home, Senate Democrats are planning a vote this week to extend U.S. borrowing authority through 2014 in the latest sign that the political class's attention is shifting from the budget impasse to preventing a government debt default, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Treasury says the debt ceiling must be raised this month or it will be unable to pay all the country's bills. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is scheduled to answer questions about the debt ceiling on Thursday in front of the Senate Finance Committee, giving Republicans a chance to press him for potential areas of compromise, the Journal added. Back on Wall Street, traders remain largely of the view that Washington is engaged in political theater rather than mass suicide. The fiscal stalemate continued to weigh on stock prices Monday, but the market's volatility index, known as the "fear gauge," has merely hit a four-month high and remains far below its level during past crises. "We all tell ourselves, 'This is something that is not going to happen,'" David Coard, the head of fixed-income trading at the Williams Capital Group, told the New York Times. "This would be like a black swan event. It's not something that you would have thought that the U.S. could do in a million years." Financial Times, Wall St. Journal, New York Times

Placing the Federal Housing Administration inside the proposed Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp. would provide singular oversight for balancing the post-GSE mortgage market and a fully federal guaranteed market for specified market segments.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may gain an upper-hand in the mortgage sphere because of regulators' plan to unite two separate mortgage standards mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act.

If history bears any indication of where this fight will wind up, New York’s top bank regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, could be headed for a long, slow, expensive defeat.

Credit Union Journal's Frank Diemann presents different views on examiners starting out in credit unions.

Ron Schmidt, CPA, of CBS Certified Public Accountants, explains why credit union leaders need to renew their focus on ethics.

Credit unions are working to understand their members to better meet needs and provide a meaningful banking experience. This personalized experience is what has set credit unions apart for many years. However, today that credit union trademark is in jeopardy.