BankThink

April 2009: I file my taxes. In spite of the economy, my finances aren't too bad. I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm employed, and my income is trending up. I'm motivated to do even better in 2009. I'm going to move my checking and savings accounts to a community bank or credit union — finally!

Given the digital, information-laden age in which we live, it is odd that so many electronic fund transfers are still carried out via data message strings that contain very little information. After all, businesses today are so data savvy they can predict consumers' spending habits even before they make purchases based on the historical data collected about them.

Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.

Here are several questions organizations should ask themselves to prepare for IAT:

Going into 2010, the top brand challenges for credit unions will be:

It’s not every day we at BankThink get to act as television critics, but today we’re taking our rare chance to give a PBS documentary two thumbs up.

Go to almost any hearing of the House Financial Services Committee or the Senate Banking Committee these days and the most you’ll hear about the problem of “too big to fail” is that it’s scary and needs to be fixed…somehow. Try to get into specifics, however, and you run into problems. Example: the testimony from two members of the Squam Lake Working Group on Financial Regulation before the Senate Banking Committee in May. The economists, Martin Baily and Raghuram Rajan, members of an elite group of scholars who gather to produce influential policy papers on financial regulation, laid out in their written statements the reasons why big banks were necessary and why regulators could not impose size limits them.

Is it a case of evolution or decay? The viewers of Oliver Stone’s forthcoming sequel to Wall Street will have to decide for themselves.

We’re firing up our Week Ahead post now that the August recess is over. It looks like Congress’ first week back won’t be entirely consumed with the healthcare reform debate after all: Hearings in the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee promise to revive discussion over regulatory restructuring and the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s financial rescue efforts.

When thinking about where the economy is heading, top Federal Reserve Board officials might look to the teachings of John Maynard Keynes, Adam Smith or Walter Bagehot. But Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, apparently channels singer and actress Dolly Parton.