BankThink

Identity management and trust in the online world may be the new business of banking.

Two new bills in Congress would undermine Dodd-Frank’s ability-to-repay rule and recreate incentives for lenders to steer families into high-risk, high-fee loans they do not understand and cannot afford.

The startup scene offers a glimpse into what the future of banking services will look like.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Happy Anniversary, Dodd-Frank: The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law three years ago Sunday, and to mark the anniversary, the Washington Post reports on the progress of the financial regulation overhaul. "Federal watchdogs were tasked with writing 398 rules to flesh out the law, but they have missed 62 percent of the deadlines set by Congress," the Post says.

The bank of the future is a humanizing bank, where the focus is on relationships, intimacy, depth, and human connection – supported by technology.

Both Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew spoke this week on how long it would take U.S. regulators to end "too big to fail" and to implement Dodd-Frank.

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

Innovations from nonbanks will need a platform to provide distribution and the ability to scale quickly. Smart bankers will partner with startups to provide together what neither could do alone.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Here Come the Regulators: A few Times articles echo a sentiment the FT's Tom Braithwaite alluded to earlier this week: A healthy earnings season may serve as the go-ahead for more big bank regulation in the U.S. "In recent weeks, the Treasury Department, senior regulators and members of Congress have stepped up efforts intended to make the largest banks safer," a Dealbook article notes. "The banks have warned that more regulation could undermine their ability to compete and curtail the amount of money they have to lend, but the strong earnings that came out over the last week could undercut their argument." Economist Simon Johnson believes that high profits signal danger for the megabanks. "In Europe, regulation remains weak, and the banks are floundering," he writes in a Times column. "In the United States, the rules are tightening, and the big banks are doing great. Once American politicians and regulators reflect further on exactly why the banks have become so profitable, this will only reinforce the latest push for more reform." Elsewhere, the Journal profiles the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which slapped Barclays with a big fine for alleged energy market manipulation earlier this week and is currently negotiating a settlement in a similar case against JPMorgan Chase. "Some people familiar with its enforcement operations think the commission is just getting started as it scrutinizes the once obscure world of electricity trading," the paper reports. Dealbook, meanwhile, notes that the industry-financed Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is moving to determine whether high-frequency trading firms pose a threat to the stability of financial markets. Finra "sent letters to 10 high-speed trading firms this week, asking them for more information about their trading programs and the steps they have in place to avert 'market disruptions,'" the paper reports.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has agreed to Sen. Mike Crapo's July 2 congressional request to examine the data collection efforts at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.