BankThink

President Obama wasn't able to make it to Credit Union Journal's Grow Show last week, but he would have approved of the "Yes We Can" mindset of the credit unions in attendance.

As technology shifts, more and more consumers are utilizing the Internet for financial services. That can be good for credit unions, but it also brings with it risks if not handled right at a time when one result of the economic downturn is consumers are re-examining every business relationship and demanding to see value.

It would be darned easy, almost expected, to let the power of leading a super-carrier simply become your management style. And yet one veteran military leader said he has learned giving orders is not the most effective way to lead.

On Feb. 5, 2009, I was privileged to participate in a planning meeting with one of the most progressive credit unions in the country. They are coming off a break-even year in 2008, and — as with the industry as a whole — they are now faced with the unexpected, and unprecedented, burden of the NCUA assessment.

Of the two speeches Sheila Bair made Monday the one at the Economic Club of New York made headlines. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairman argued her agency should get the job of prison warden for systematically important goliaths after they run into trouble.

Meredith Whitney made a name for herself by issuing dire predictions that proved correct, and at this week´s Milken Institute conference in Beverly Hills, she upped the ante.

Something is wrong here. As journalists it´s impossible to claim that we at BankThink and American Banker aren´t trying as hard as everyone else is to find out how the 19 big banks did on their stress tests, but we also can't say we´re in a comfortable position while doing it. It´s worth wondering whether anyone at the Treasury Department or the White House or the Federal Reserve spent time contemplating this response before rolling out the stress test portion of the bank rescue plan. If so, that person should take a long vacation. If no one contemplated it, then maybe everyone should take a vacation and bring in some fresh-faced temps.

Just a quick query to readers of the timing of an Office of Comptroller of the Currency enforcement action: Was the release of a discrimination enforcement action the day before the OCC defends its enforcement authority over state discrimination laws a case of just good timing or clever calculating?

In a 5,000-word, front-page profile in today´s New York Times, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner faces a chorus of critics on his behavior as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as well as his ideas for a rescue of the financial system.

Former Rep. Jim Leach has always been a man of the world. But no one can accuse him of forgetting home.