BankThink

Banks with less than $10 billion in assets are exempt from clearing and exchange trading requirements, but as derivative users they will have to post margin, keep records and amend documents.

Don't focus solely on cost savings. Instead, articulate that you're willing to look at new ideas and projects to help improve margins. This will inspire managers to tap into a fresh wave of thinking.

Intended to bring together the entire universe of U.S. financial regulators in the hope that doing so would identify and forestall new risks to the financial system, the FSOC, two years in, has not identified much and can therefore be credited with little forestalling, writes the ABA's Wayne Abernathy

Intended to bring together the entire universe of U.S. financial regulators in the hope that doing so would identify and forestall new risks to the financial system, the FSOC, two years in, has not identified much and can therefore be credited with little forestalling.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...A Bear of a Case: In the first action by his task force on mortgage securitization fraud, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued JPMorgan over bonds that Bear Stearns sold before JPM acquired it. Naturally, the complaint quotes from embarrassing, obscenity-laced emails, and one Bear Stearns trader allegedly coined a phrase that would make Henry Blodget blush (the Huffington Post saw fit to put this innovation of profanity in its headline). More significantly, the suit will serve as a blueprint for other cases against big banks totaling tens of billions in potential damages, according to the Journal. "We intend to follow up with similar actions," an official in Schneiderman's office tells the paper, showing a true commitment to accountability by refusing to attach his or her name to the vow. Oh, and did you notice this is coming out a month before Election Day? "Banking lawyers are not too pleased" about the timing, writes Politico's Ben White. "Typically, according to these lawyers, the Justice Department goes dark on such cases near a major election so as not to be seen as acting out of political motivations. No such informal strictures apparently apply to Schneiderman, even though his task force includes federal resources. … Will Obama mention the new case in the debate tomorrow?" Start your office pools … Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Politico

The notion of decreasing the degree to which a banker can use his or her judgment to add to the ALLL not only throws the baby out with the bathwater, but it also fails to protect the investor, the very person that the accounting rules claim to be protecting.

The third enforcement order from the CFPB, resulting in $112 million in penalties against American Express, brought together Utah and federal regulators in investigating violations across subsidiaries of the company.

A practical, well-executed plan, even one with disappointingly modest goals, will deliver more than an overly ambitious plan, easily subverted, that in hindsight probably had no hope of ever succeeding.

The Dodd-Frank Deposit Insurance Provision, which insures accounts over $250,000 is set to expire by the end of the year. When the program (often referred to as its first incarnation, the Transaction Account Guarantee) ends, funds over the limit will be moving to money-market funds, analysts predict according to the Wall Street Journal.

It is neither the intent nor the practice of NCUA to influence a vote on a credit union conversion. Our rules protect members' rights to make well informed decisions.