BankThink

Heightened risk management standards and the "three lines of defense" are supposed to help banks ward off scandal, but they failed miserably.

The alleged practices at the heart of Well Fargo's settlement were fueled by a short-term incentive system that is detached from broader goals.

While troubling factors such as higher risk profiles may be behind the recent lending boom, the industry could also just be returning to the historical average for loan growth following the "Great Panic" of 2008-2010.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...It ain't over...: Wells Fargo's settlement last week didn't end its woes. While the bank was making apologies, officials were assessing the situation. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, called on the panel to hold hearings to find out exactly what happened. A member of the Federal Reserve Board also weighed in. "What I have seen is that too many banks, instead of putting in place a comprehensive system for assuring that all their employees understand what is legal and ethical across the board, only respond when there is a particular problem," Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo said in an interview with CNBC. New York Times, Washington Post, American Banker

In the past, hackers have most often gone after specific merchants when seeking cardholder information. Recent attacks on point-of-sale (POS) vendors, however, may signal a drastic shift in how these cybercriminals operate, and certainly signal a need for application security for mobile payments.

There is a compelling case for business parties to use smart contract technology in the future to complete binding legal contracts.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board's accounting rules for credit risk have good intentions, but a likely amplification of the ups and downs of the credit market was probably not one of them.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Incentive to cheat?: Wells Fargo was hit with the largest penalty in the history of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to settle charges that thousands of employees created unauthorized bank and credit card accounts for customers in order to collect bonuses for themselves. The company fired 5,300 employees as a result. The bank agreed to pay a $185 million regulatory enforcement action plus another $5 million in customer remediation. Wells' own analysis found that thousands of its employees had signed up customers for more than 1.5 million deposit accounts and more than 565,000 credit card accounts without their knowledge or consent. They also issued debit cards without customers' approval, including issuing PINs and creating phony email addresses. "The settlement underscored incentives and sales goals led employees to illegally open new accounts," American Banker reports.

It’s well known that blockchain technology decentralizes decision making and fosters decision by consensus.

Within five years, a dramatic transformation of the mortgage market will force firms to expand product menus beyond mortgages to develop stronger relationships with their customers.