BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...The Electric Ring Fence: Would the threat of a break up keep big banks from violating the law? U.K. regulators appear to believe so as they are set to announce new powers today that will give them the authority to break up banks that flout ring-fencing rules in their Banking Reform Bill. "In America and elsewhere, banks found ways to undermine and get around the rules," U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne is expected to say in a speech later today. "We could see that again — so we are going to arm ourselves in advance. In the jargon, we will 'electrify the ring fence'." News of the regulators' plans has already received pushback from bankers, with one unnamed senior banker telling the FT Osborne was "playing politics with the economy."

Despite new standards, firms must be aware of how much often-subjective judgment goes into mark-to-market accounting, particularly for non-standard financial products.

After the undermining of President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's director and talk swirling that Democrats may seek to cut a deal with Republicans, many of whom seek to scale back the agency, Sen. Elizabeth Warren may be the one who can save the CFPB.

Safety and soundness in banking will be found more in changes in oversight than regulation.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Executive Pay: Morgan Stanley's CEO is receiving a higher base salary and performance-related bonus but an overall pay cut. Barclays' CEO is giving up his bonus this year to avoid "unnecessary public debate." If that were the only issue, we'd take the dough, and you could debate us all you like. Then again, Barclays has other things to deal with … like allegations that during the crisis it made an undisclosed loan to Qatar to purchase the bank's own shares so it wouldn't need a bailout. Oddly, the "unnecessary debate" line disappeared from this story after we hit refresh — the updated version emphasizes more penitent remarks, e.g. it's "only right" that he turn down a bonus given the scandals that preceded his arrival. But we know we weren't hallucinating, because Britain's Sky News has the "debate" quote in their headline.

Young hipsters aren't the only ones who want to conduct business with mobile phones. The underserved are also heavy smartphone adopters, and likely to use them for banking and payments.

White's determination to succeed and legal competence will make her the most formidable chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission yet.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry believes regulatory cooperation between examiners is key to navigating the division of responsibilities that the Dodd-Frank Act made to bank regulation.

The nomination of attorney Mary Jo White as SEC chairman and renomination of Richard Cordray as CFPB director indicate the White House's stance on key banking issues will create new challenges for financial institutions.

The biggest expansion of the banking rulebook is still on the horizon. The changes could lead to an overhaul of banking business models.