BankThink

The Community Reinvestment Act has taken a bad rap as having helped cause the mortgage crisis, but it never recommended making loans to people who can't repay them. Hopefully it can be replicated in other countries where lending inequalities need correcting.

I predict that the systemically important institutions will come increasingly to be led by people with a securities orientation. But is that good for the banking system and the economy?

New accounts — and loyalty from long-time patrons — go to the agile and innovative, and more often than ever before, it is the unique, automated and technology-driven services that make the difference.

You really have to admire the consistency of the bankers who, even while standing in the long shadow of massive bailout packages rivaling some countries' GDPs, and with a failure rate in recent years nearly five times higher than that of credit unions, have, along with their straw men, continued to keep beating the drum on the credit union tax exemption.

In this market, it has become inevitable that we all must look to expense management as a critical element of long-term strategic planning.

It was interesting, as a community banker, to read Mr. Kahr's (a big banker) piece about community banking. To assert that community banking is not in danger, in light of a decline in number of banks from over 16,000 to about 6,500 today is an exercise in absurdity.

One big thing we can say for Vikram Pandit is that he is not the son or grandson of a CEO of Citigroup. Many community bank CEOs can't say as much. High as my hopes are for Prince William, history tells us that heredity does not breed efficiency. Family businesses are bested by investor-owned businesses. Why should legislators and regulators favor community banks or treat them as an endangered species?

I am a board member of a mid-sized credit union with a net-worth ratio hovering between 7% and 8%. Our board is considering merging into a similarly sized credit union. When does it make sense to merge?

One thing all economists can agree on: interest rates have nowhere to go but up — it's when rates begin to rise that's still out for debate.

Not sure if you really need to be sitting down or taking sedatives when I reveal the findings of a recent study: tellers have an affect on how consumers feel about their financial institution. Who knew?