BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...State of the Union Address: Obama urged passage of a mortgage refinancing bill, but otherwise made no mention of banking or financial services, to the relief of some industry executives. In the Republican rebuttal, Marco Rubio alluded to the role of "reckless government policies" in the housing crisis and called for improved disclosures to student loan borrowers. Incidentally, why all the fuss about taking a swig of water? He was giving a speech, not acting in a play. A more interesting digression: if you're wondering what this 3-D printing thing Obama mentioned is all about, here's a good primer. General SOTU coverage in Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post

Retail banks must start innovating, improve integration across channels and consider charging fees for services to maximize their return on investment.

Republicans continue to call for the CFPB to adopt a five-person board instead of having a single director. Similar calls are almost never heard regarding the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., released the panel's agenda for the 113th Congress on Tuesday. Among many of the issues unveiled was an emphasis on continued oversight of the Dodd-Frank reform law.

Developing new online platforms to lower APRs to 365% is a waste of resources. Instead, lenders can tackle the payday problem by partnering together, cultivating loyalty and capping expected default rates.

Individuals who blew the whistle on a mortgage fraud scheme that cost JPMorgan Chase $296 million in fines have three months to prove that their information helped lead to the settlement.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform law, will require some mortgage servicers to develop general plans for avoiding complications arising from the transfer of servicing rights.

The traditional payday loan structure should cease to serve as the standard by which innovation in this credit space is measured.

Banks are beginning to use considerable discretion in deciding what constitutes an illegal act and sometimes even an immoral act. Freeze the funds first ... ask questions later.

The bulwarks of financial privacy may, by default, become unsanctioned, underground networks like Bitcoin and startups run by youngsters brazen, or naive, enough to test the legal and regulatory limits.