BankThink

JPMorgan had over $200 billion in TAG deposits in the last quarter. That's almost 20% of the bank's deposits and equal to 60% of the now-infamous chief investment office's portfolio.

Relief from fair value accounting is essential for community banks to survive and ultimately thrive in today’s economic climate. Fortunately, legislation before Congress would untether regulatory accounting practices from GAAP.

There are fewer opportunities for upward mobility, and it's likely that the bank you go to work for will soon be merged out of existence. Is this the kind of environment that attracts the best and brightest?

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Fed Watch: The Federal Open Market Committee meets today and tomorrow, and will weigh whether to take additional steps to juice the economy, given the threat of contagion from Europe and general uncertainty about domestic growth. A lengthy front-page story in the Journal says a “credit divide” has prevented millions of Americans with blemished payment histories from taking advantage of the Fed’s low interest rate policies. Nearly 90% of new mortgages, for example, now go to households with credit scores of 700 or higher, versus a nearly 50-50 split between that group and the below-700 club in early 2007. “The problem for the Fed is that the pipes in the financial system through which its easy money travels are clogged,” the story says. And Roto-Rooting ain’t the central bank’s job. Wall Street Journal, New York Times

Risk management is fundamentally a social science built on market data that sometimes misbehaves. The models are fed by crucial assumptions about the likelihood of different market outcomes.

Among other things, House lawmakers shouldn't tell Jamie Dimon how awesome he is (he already knows) and shouldn't suggest over-regulation caused the $2 billion-plus loss at the bank. To find out the worst thing they could do, however, read on.

We finally have a regulator with no mandate to preserve banks' image. To protect consumers, the CFPB must assure that those who cheat them are punished. New rules won't help if we don't enforce the old ones.

Frank Diekmann's experience speaking at the Illinois league's annual meeting at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg.

Can individuals collaborate?

Receiving Wide Coverage ...New Democracy Wins: But wins what? The helm of an unraveling economic and political order, a spot many believe no government can hold onto for long?