BankThink

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed new requirements for mortgage servicers “to provide clear monthly statements, earlier disclosures for interest rate adjustments and options to help borrowers avoid foreclosures and costly force-placed insurance,” writes American Banker’s Kate Berry.

We don't need and shouldn't have one-size-fits-all regulatory policies. Community banks are different from their larger U.S. counterparts.

As the banking industry and Wall Street gear up for the impending reforms under Dodd-Frank, it is wise to cast an eye toward the rules for trade reporting and clearing for over-the-counter derivatives, lest they catch you unaware.

Restoring Glass-Steagall would be a palliative just like the Volcker rule: simple to say, hard to do. Even under the 1933 law, financial innovators blurred the lines between commercial and investment banking — almost from the very start.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...StanChart Redux: This morning's editions of the Journal and the FT offer behind-the-scenes accounts of the Standard Chartered saga from different perspectives. The Journal describes how New York regulator Benjamin Lawsky blindsided his counterparts in Washington and London by forging ahead with money-laundering charges against the U.K. bank while the other agencies were still investigating. The FT's story focuses on StanChart's response — the bank considered suing Lawsky for reputational damage, the British paper says. But Lawsky's threat to revoke StanChart's license to clear dollar transactions spooked shareholders. Both papers quote analysts who found the settlement amount of $340 million paltry in light of Lawsky's initial bluster and the bank's earnings power (StanChart made about $4 billion in the first half of this year). As often, we find the reader comments on these stories nearly as interesting as the news itself. "This episode simply illustrates the cost of doing business in [the] US now for banks who trade where [the] US wants complete hegemony," comments an FT reader. "Banks should identify it as a business risk similar to that which oil companies operating in Russia view the vagaries of the Russian legal system." And it seems the now-infamous foulmouthed StanChart banker who complained about "you [expletive] Americans" is in good company. Another Journal article says European companies are complaining that "banks acting for them are refusing to handle legitimate trades with Iran for fear of falling afoul of U.S. regulatory authorities. They claim the situation has put them at a disadvantage to U.S. businesses whose trade with Tehran is soaring."

Last month, in its enforcement action against Capital One, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau collected the first money going into the Civil Penalty Fund.

No digital wallet can reach ubiquity if it is limited to big-box stores. Mobile solutions have to percolate down at the local coffee shop as well, where they can become part of the customer's daily grind.

Though Mitt Romney has said he'd repeal Dodd-Frank, many opponents of the legislation aren't expecting a full repeal, but rather incremental changes, according to a Washington Post WonkBlog piece.

ING Bank's $1.67 billion settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control is a textbook example of the decision-making process such regulators follow in handling violations.

We learn lessons after every financial crisis. But it doesn't stop the next one from happening.