BankThink

Moving to an expected-loss framework would be a step in the right direction but entails a great deal of subjectivity, model risk and confusion for investors trying to compare institutions.

Regulators have designated Prudential Financial Inc. as a risk to the financial system. The Newark, N.J.-based company is the third nonbank firm given the SIFI label.

We need to encourage women to disrupt the status quo and take jobs in uncharted territory, like those in risk management, social media, mobile banking and big data analytics.

Jim Jerving shares why credit unions need to find more ways to say "yes" to more small loans.

Jeff Bartlett, head of ConsumerTrack.com, explains why it is time to invest in "mobilizing" websites.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...All Over But for the Yellen: A new conventional wisdom has congealed in the week since Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration: that Janet Yellen will be nominated to take the helm of the Fed. Yellen's seeming momentum was reinforced by a Wall Street Journal report that the White House is urging Democratic senators to defend her against potential attacks. Further feeding the Yellen surge: dueling profiles in the Journal and the Financial Times that may leave readers feeling whiplash. The Journal emphasizes that the Fed's vice chair has clashed with others at the central bank "and left some hard feelings in the wake of those confrontations," while the FT's much more glowing article gives the opposite impression, concluding that "Janet Yellen is unusually kind and decent." Meanwhile, the Washington Post's Ezra Klein writes that Summers lost out because liberal Democrats have big fundamental disagreements with President Obama about financial regulation, and they saw Summers as a stand-in for the president.

A study by The Clearing House Association found that a proposed leverage ratio would force banks to raise $200 billion in capital or shed roughly $3.7 trillion in assets. The study also found that the leverage ratio would be a binding capital rule for two-thirds of big-bank assets.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

The Federal Reserve Board now demands that big banks proactively manage reputational, strategic and compliance risks – qualitative things they traditionally viewed as outside their control. The new discipline will serve banks well.

Promotion to CEO roles will continue to be a challenge for women as the industry continues to consolidate.