BankThink

Investors in search of yield are supporting a return to more aggressive, higher-risk transactions. Banks need the discipline of fixed underwriting standards to prevent mindless herding.

Breaking News This Morning ...JPM Earnings: JPMorgan Chase kicked off earnings season today by announcing a 33% rise in net income in the first quarter. The bank reported a profit $6.53 billion, or $1.59 a share, besting analyst expectations of about $5.4 billion in net income. Per the Journal, "strong investment-banking results offset declining mortgage revenue." Per some live-tweeting, JPM CEO Jamie Dimon dodged questions regarding the shareholder proposal to break up his role as CEO and chairman during the earnings call. "You guys can ask me this question 15 times. This is an earnings call." American Banker's Maria Aspan reported in a tweet. "JPM's Dimon really doesn't want to talk chairman/CEO split proposal." More big picture coverage: Financial Times, Washington Post, New York Times, American Banker

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have jointly adopted new rules to enable financial firms to set up programs to locate evidence of attempts to steal personal information and to deter identity theft.

The sensitivity now present at the highest levels of the Fed, OCC and FDIC offers great promise to consumers looking to acquire responsible loans from the banking industry.

The riskiest loans get priced out of Fannie and Freddie securities and end up guaranteed by the FHA. We are merely shifting risk from one set of federally insured entities to another.

The exchange rate may be volatile now, but as the market eventually finds equilibrium and stabilizes, bitcoin will become an important store of value beyond restriction and confiscation.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Chairman and CEO?: Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein has successfully skirted a vote that could have split up his role as CEO and chairman after striking a deal with the investment group putting forth the proposal. The deal beefs up the role of lead director James Schiro, who will, moving forward, "set the agenda for the board, instead of merely approving it" and "write his own letter to shareholders in the proxy statement," Dealbook reports. Now the world waits to see what happens to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who faces a nonbinding vote on a similar issue at his bank's annual shareholder meeting next month. Dimon, the FT reports, "will not get off so easily" largely due to a little thing called the London Whale. This may be why, as the Journal reports, Dimon's annual letter to shareholders "lacked the feisty tone of years past." In the 30-page letter, Dimon "renewed his apologies" for the trading debacle, calling it "the stupidest and most embarrassing situation I have ever been a part of" and pledged to focus on compliance control. One analyst told Bloomberg earlier this week that Dimon may leave JPM "maybe not immediately but within the year" if the vote doesn't go his way. After all, he has all that new office space.

The lead Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Maxine Waters, is considering certain changes to the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a 45-page compliance guide for small banks and mortgage lenders to better understand how to comply with the "qualified mortgage" rule that requires lenders to ensure borrowers have the ability to repay a loan.

Constraints on fees for arranging loans will encourage car dealers to charge more for other products and services to make up lost revenue.