BankThink

Over the last several years, the concept of cloud computing rapidly transitioned to reality. Cloud is the simple concept of having another company provide the technological building blocks needed to run the credit union.

The recently released report on unbanked and underbanked households by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation should be yet another wake-up call for financial institutions across this country and especially credit unions.

Merchants, the Fed and industry lobbyists testified in court on the implementation of the Durbin Amendment, which sets a ceiling on interchange fees that larger banks can charge merchants. Merchants argue the Fed included costs in the cap that were not allowed under Dodd-Frank.

The universal consumer demand for bill payment makes the service particularly well-suited to bringing people into the financial mainstream.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...JPMorgasbord: Barry Zubrow, JPMorgan Chase's head of regulatory affairs, is leaving his job before the end of the year, and may or may not stay with the bank in an advisory role, the Journal reports, citing anonymous sources. The article also reveals that Jes Staley, the chairman of JPM's corporate and investment banking unit, was a candidate to run Barclays after the Libor scandal forced the British bank's CEO to step down. (Anthony Jenkins, a long-time Barclays banker, ultimately landed that gig.) Noting that Staley was kicked upstairs during a July executive reshuffling at JPM, and that several other long-time associates of CEO Jamie Dimon have left or been demoted in recent years, the Journal says, "The prospect of additional movement at the top levels of J.P. Morgan underscores how much change is occurring at a bank that has been known for unity and continuity." The new Vanity Fair profile of Dimon plumbs the implications of the turnover, among other things. "Very few of the Dimon loyalists are still at his side at JPMorgan Chase. … But with Dimon, loyalty is not a formula for job security. 'It isn't,' he admits, 'because then you're being disloyal to the company. If you aren't performing anymore, it's time to make a change.'" Magazine writers William D. Cohan and Bethany McLean paint a rich portrait of Dimon that is well worth reading. (Fun facts we either didn't previously know or must have forgotten: During his 18-month hiatus between being fired at Citigroup and taking the reins at Bank One, Dimon was a contender to lead Home Depot; after he lured several Citi executives to Bank One, his former mentor Sandy Weill threatened to sue.) And this is no puff piece. The article recounts JPMorgan's legal issues in various businesses (mortgages, securities, energy trading, credit card collections, munis) and the familiar but salient details of the London Whale debacle. The big question is whether JPMorgan is too big to manage, even for the most capable and perspicacious of managers. "How did one of the most anal, numbers-oriented C.E.O.'s on Wall Street allow a bunch of traders in London to make such a huge, concentrated—and losing—bet and not know about it until it was too late? It is a conundrum. … Because of JPMorgan's size it was able to distort the market, not just briefly but for months. And Dimon didn't notice any of it." And speaking of long-form narratives of the Whale tale: In case you missed it in yesterday's Scan, check out the New York Times Magazine's profile of Ina Drew, JPMorgan's former chief investment officer.

To say one is a banker because he or she works at a bank is like saying you are a car because you live in a garage. The term banker must mean something.

In the first presidential debate Mitt Romney criticized the "systemically important" designations, mandated by the act, as "the biggest kiss that's been given to New York banks." And he's getting impatient with that "qualified mortgage" definition.

Banks can't win back business through optimistic future-focused messaging that ignores the real pain in our country. What customers really want is for their bank to apologize for its missteps.

Agencies need to make sure that the regulations being implemented are necessary to address the problems the Dodd-Frank Act intended to address. Analyzing the rules' potential economic impact is critical, writes BankThink columnist Clifford Rossi.

Agencies need to make sure that the regulations being implemented are necessary to address the problems the Dodd-Frank Act intended to address. Analyzing the rules' potential economic impact is critical.