BankThink

The gradual erosion of net interest margins and a compensatory shift toward risky new lending strategies for additional yield is a major factor for high chargeoffs and community bank failures.

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

The recent crime spree that netted $45 million in fraudulent ATM withdrawals adds to the many reasons banks approach prepaid products with caution.

After receiving thousands of complaints from consumers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is encouraging private student lenders and the government to help lower payments for borrowers.

Banks, conflicted by moral hazard, will always fight for maximum FDIC coverage at the least possible cost, since the FDIC is ultimately backed by Other People’s Money.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...More JPM Woes: California Attorney General Kamala Harris is suing JPMorgan Chase over alleged credit card debt collection abuses. Per the lawsuit, JPM "engaged in widespread, illegal robo-signing, among other unlawful practices, to commit debt-collection abuses against approximately 100,000 California credit card borrowers over at least a three-year period." The bank, thus far, is declining to comment on the lawsuit. Various news outlets report other enforcement actions from regulators concerning the collection issues may follow. These developments shouldn't surprise American Banker readers. Risk management editor Jeff Horowitz broke the news of a pending OCC probe when he profiled the bank's aggressive credit card collection practices back in March 2012. New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, American Banker

New POS schemes bring uncertainties. Merchants need partners who can help them scale their solutions while growing sales and increasing customers.

The president of the Kansas City Fed responds to the ABA's James Chessen.

Operations Risk has become a buzzword among bankers and regulators lately. Unfortunately, repackaging mainstream management duties as a discrete discipline could do more harm than good.

The Fed should ditch tailored versions of bank-centric rules for ones that build on current nonbank regulation and are informed by comments received in the pending rulemakings.