BankThink

Despite the lure of online banking, ensuring a positive branch experience is still one of the best ways to retain existing members and grow their loyalty.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Co-op Bank 'Bails In' Bondholders: As part of its efforts to raise an additional $2.4 billion in capital, U.K. lender Co-operative Bank is asking subordinated bondholders to swap their debt securities for shares in the bank. "By requiring bondholders to exchange their debt securities for shares, Co-operative Bank is trying to avoid turning to the British government for help," Dealbook notes. Participation in the swap is currently voluntary. Analysts tell the Journal "there could be legal issues" if bondholders are forced to participate. Few details are being offered about the exchange, which is expected to take place in October. Co-op Bank CEO Euan Sutherland did issue this statement: "This solution, under which [bondholders] will own a significant minority stake in the bank, will then allow them to share in the upside of the transformation of the bank." The bank will gain a quote on the London Stock Exchange for shares given to debtholders, according to the FT's Lombard column, which notes "the Rochdale Pioneers, who created the Co-op in the 19th century as a proto-socialist counter balance to proprietary businesses, must be spinning in their nonconformist graves."

Social channels may encourage complaints, but it is in banks’ best interests to publicly demonstrate they are fixing the problem.

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

Straightening out bad actors is fine, but it won’t resolve the inconsistencies and consumer confusion about overdraft protection cited by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein backed Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. efforts, mandated under the Dodd-Frank Act, to create a rule for orderly closures of big firms.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has lost more than a dozen senior officials in recent months, raising concerns whether the agency will be able to maintain the aggressive pace set during its nearly two years of existence.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Fallout from RBS's Hester Ousting: The Royal Bank of Scotland's firing of its chief executive, Stephen Hester, will send bank staff morale "to rock bottom," the Financial Times reports, and more defections are expected. In a related note, RBS announced Thursday it would wind down its remaining equities sales and trading businesses and will cease to offer structured retail investor products and equity derivatives; this is expected to lead to 2,000 job cuts. The New York Times' Dealbook reports British lawmakers are displeased with Hester's departure. One Labour politician, Chris Leslie, "accused the government of a 'shambolic and uncertain approach' to the bank," according to the paper.

Federal regulators must not rely on standard measures of differences between outcome rates without considering the way those measures change simply because the frequency of an outcome changes.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a training guide titled "Money Smart for Older Adults" to help banks, law enforcement and advocates of senior citizens deliver tips to older adults on preventing exploitation.