BankThink

With the help of technology and the FHFA, the CFPB can create Dynamic Disclosures for consumers. Better information will put borrowers on an equal footing with lenders, making non-Qualified Mortgage loans safer to originate.

Wall Street JournalIn what is either an oversight or an extreme dislike of jargon, the Journal managed to write an 800-word article on the imminent expiration of the Transaction Guarantee Program (TAG) without once using the phrases "Transaction Guarantee Program" or "TAG." The gist is that the Senate would re-up the program, the Republican-dominated House won't, and small banks are seething and fighting for an extension.

PHILADELPHIA – Freedom CU is offering members an opportunity to Skip-A-Payment on their personal, vehicle, or closed-end home equity loan during the holidays.

Banks are unsure if deposit contracts with broker-dealers that have longer-term rate and contract maturities will be treated as such under Basel III.

The "living will" process gives financial institutions the opportunity to, among other things, frame policy, improve operational efficiencies and educate the market, business units and regulators.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on enforcing fair lending laws. Because both agencies have authority to protect against discriminatory lending, this agreement will help to avoid duplicating efforts.

Fees charged on homebuyers are meant to cover risk and protect taxpayers from losses, not pay for unrelated government programs.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Bonds, Bonds, Bonds: The FT and the Journal printed articles this morning that indicate the bond market is booming. According to the FT, "in order to lure conservative investors away" from the much maligned money market fund industry, fund management groups are launching (and pushing) "ultra-short" bond funds that will invest in short-term government and corporate paper. This type of investment vehicle, launched by six fund managers over the last few months and being eyed by several others, is worth considering because, as one manager told the paper, "it retains a lot of the features that give flexibility to money market funds, things like check-writing and no trading restrictions." But these investments may be short-term for a reason. According to the Journal's article — which also nods to a spike in investor interest in bonds over the past few years — some fund managers (perhaps, not the same ones the FT talked to?) believe there are "hidden dangers lurking" in the market. "Bond math dictates that losses will be magnified when interest rates are low, and when bond maturities are long, as they are now," the paper notes.

Opponents have failed to halt momentum on a bill to extend the Transaction Account Guarantee program, and the Senate is slated to vote on the legislation as early as next week.

"It's clear the Roundtable's new chief executive plans on sticking around; this isn't a pit stop in his political career," writes American Banker's Editor-at-Large Barbara Rehm.