BankThink

The CFPB may have found a middle way on the safe harbor vs. "rebuttable presumption" debate in the forthcoming "qualified mortage standard. Lenders might get protection from lawsuits about ability-to-pay considerations, but only when the interest rate is in an average range

Banks that wait to be told what to do won’t thrive because the possibility of surprising and delighting customers with innovation is exactly zero when you wait for them to tell you what to build.

Breaking News This Morning ...Well, That Was Abrupt. The day after a generally positive earnings report (more on that below) CEO Vikram Pandit says he's "concluded that now is the right time for someone else to take the helm at Citigroup." That someone else is long-time company veteran Michael Corbat, who most recently oversaw the Europe, Middle East and Africa business and before that Citi Holdings, the company's garage sale of noncore assets. President and COO John Havens also resigned. Press release here.

Switching out three VaR models in less than a year raises questions about not only the models' stability but also how risks across large, systemically important institutions can be compared.

The process for assigning Legal Entity Identifiers is causing conflict on the global regulatory scene. At issue: Who gets to assign them? Some folks are just glad the CFTC is rolling ahead with a plan, but members of the official implementation group have concerns about how it might hinder broad adoption.

Without one, community banks will face increased risk of litigation they cannot afford. This could push many of them out of the mortgage market.

The Dodd-Frank Act puts lots of new requirements on hedge funds. Are the new regulations cramping fund managers' style? A new survey says no, and that the funding industry is "adjusting well."

Former FDIC chairman Sheila Bair wants to ban the revolving door and, moreover, believes bank examiners should be required to make a lifelong commitment to the profession. Not everyone agrees with this prescription.

We launched Day in the Life of Credit Unions sixteen years ago as a way to pay tribute to and help credit unions celebrate International Credit Union Week.

With the new IRR rules now in effect, credit unions should consider how to incorporate and ensure compliance with these components.