BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Good Euros and Bad Euros: The accomplished fact of losses for large depositors to resolve Cyprus' insolvent banks rippled through markets, newspapers and the commentariat. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hard line against the offshore banking haven prevailed, but fresh worries that depositors in other countries with weak banks might flee reinvigorated doubts about the viability of the euro. An interview in the FT with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem was a focal point. He said that now that financial markets have achieved a state of relative calm, losses for bank creditors instead of taxpayer bailouts are in order. Later he appeared to walk back those remarks, saying rescue deals should be tailored to specific situations.

The difference between board members with hands-on banking, compliance and technology knowledge and board members without can mean the difference between a bank's success and failure.

Our best chance to counter the government policies that caused the crisis (and continue to endanger the banking system) is, paradoxically, another distasteful state intrusion.

For many small and midsize banks, AML is all about compliance and getting through an examination without too many bruises. The means overshadow the ends.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Cyprus Bailout: Remember that time back in college when your professor told you your score on the final exam would be the entirety of your grade, so you sort of blew off those little quizzes he gave throughout the semester? And how you ended up panicking a few days before the test, staying up all night on coffee or something stronger, and miraculously pulled off a B-minus?

Michael M. Bell, attorney and counselor with Howard & Howard, tells readers how to begin tackling the challenges of buying a bank.

Credit Union Journal's Frank J. Diekmann discusses co-op principles to cooperative endings.

Harry Stephens, president/CEO and founder of DATAMATX, explains how to "stamp out" the rising cost of postage and mailings.

Directors should recognize that appropriate professional behavior reinforced by a sense of belonging to a quality franchise constitutes a decisive competitive advantage.

If he supported size regulations on big banks, JPMorgan's CEO would help revamp his increasingly tarnished image and help put the entire financial industry on the path to redemption.