BankThink

Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, addressed the issue of consumers' lack of choice in a speech last month.

Holding companies facing looming debt maturities are exposed to the risk of a forced sale or possible forfeiture of the stock of their bank subsidiaries.

Tough regulations, strict oversight and sophisticated analytics can all help, but they pale in comparison to a culture that actively embraces risk management rather than paying lip service to it.

Results suggests safety when there is none and diverts attention from the real need for structural reform.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Freddie vs. Banks Over Libor: Freddie Mac is suing more than a dozen banks and the British Bankers Association, alleging it incurred substantial losses as a result of Libor-rigging. The alleged losses are related to swaps transactions and mortgage securities the GSE had linked to Libor. The suit claims the BBA participated in the rigging "to protect revenue it generated from selling Libor licenses and to appease the banks that were on the Libor panel," the FT reports. Freddie's counterpart, Fannie Mae has yet to file suit, but told the Journal it was "weighing that possibility." Banks caught in Freddie's crosshairs include B of A, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, RBS, Barclays and UBS.

Abolish the public/private hybrid model of Fannie and Freddie, sell or liquidate their businesses, and privatize the mortgage market. This can be done in an orderly way in a few easy steps.

Breaking up big banks as way to score our pound of flesh post-financial crisis could result in increased unemployment, higher credit costs for all and a transfer of risk from banks to lightly regulated shadow financial institutions.

At a confirmation vote on Tuesday morning, the Senate Banking Committee was split down party lines in support of Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The panel voted in favor of Mary Jo White to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, with only one vote against her nomination.

Rewriting the longstanding structures of corporate law and the roles and responsibilities of bank boards could create chaos in the global corporate and financial structures.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Citi Settles: In a story that will sound familiar, Citigroup has agreed to pay $730 million to settle claims that it misled its bond and preferred stock investors about possible exposure to losses on securities backed by subprime mortgages. The settlement is now the second-largest class action settlement related to the financial crisis. Bank of America's $2.4 billion payout to shareholders over the health of Merrill Lynch still takes the top spot. Citi, which maintains it did nothing wrong and merely settled "to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further protracted litigation," plans to cover the costs with "existing litigation reserves," the FT reports. One analyst told the Journal he thinks "we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel" in terms of the litigation, "which is one reason why these stocks have been trading better." New York Times, American Banker