BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...New EU Regulator: Over strong German objections, the European Union went ahead Thursday with plans to create supranational agency empowered to regulate the continent's banking industry and shutter failing banks the New York Times reported. Approval of the so-called single bank resolution system represents a huge step on the road to a European banking union. Creation of such a powerful agency was important enough that it should have required changes to the European Union treaty, German Chancellor Angel Merkel argued. Germany and other critics of single bank resolution pointed out taxpayers across the continent would bear the financial burden of shutting down individual banks. They also wanted to retain as much national control over their banks as possible, but their position was weakened by a legal opinion that concluded the EU already possessed the authority to implement single bank resolution. The Financial Times obtained a copy of the confidential document. New York Times, Financial Times

Filmmaker Jim Bruce has produced a devastating documentary that uses Fed veterans, such as Peter Fisher, to explain how the central bank pumps up asset bubbles.

Responding to potential enforcement actions has become even more challenging because the number of agencies with concurrent jurisdiction has increased, and the authorities of those agencies have been broadened.

Knee-jerk regulations passed in crisis moments can do more harm than good, but all regulation is a static framework applied to an ongoing, dynamic market. The tensions created are inevitable.

A sharp rise in interest rates could cause customers to cash in CDs they have purchased only 30 to 60 days prior. It should not be easily cost effective to cash any CD prior to maturity.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Foiled Comeback: Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's hope of staging a political comeback was halted on Tuesday when he lost the Democratic nomination for city comptroller to Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough president. The one-time "sheriff of Wall Street" spent more money, but Stringer, as the New York Times describes it, painted Spitzer as a rich man who saw himself as above the law.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be increasing the availability of loans to the most underserved segment of the market: the small rental properties across the country that are naturally affordable.

Incorporating both regulatory capital and economic capital into a unified decision measure allows organizations to better optimize risk/return profiles, facilitate strategic planning and limit setting and define risk appetite.

Electronic payment companies design, build and operate costly networks that provide secure payment transactions to merchants. Such providers incur significant costs for the services they provide and deserve to charge a market-based rate to their customers.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Happy Primary Day, New Yorkers! Did you vote yet? Besides eliminating some of the approximately 43 people running for mayor, you also have a chance to weigh in on the Sheriff of Wall Street's attempted return to elected office. Eliot Spitzer is vying with (and currently behind in the polls) Scott Stringer for the job of New York City comptroller, a role that entails running the city's pension funds and potentially making life even more interesting for Jamie Dimon. Speaking of JPMorgan Chase…