Consumer banking
Top bankers went out of their way to praise the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its Director, Richard Cordray, at American Banker's Retail Financial Services Conference. Despite the happy talk, they stopped short of calling for the GOP to end its opposition to the bureau or for Cordray's directorship to be made permanent.
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Over 40 million Americans are under- or un-banked. Operation HOPE Chief Executive John Hope Bryant discusses how banks can make customers out of this under-served market and do well by doing good in the process.
March 13 -
As banks struggle to find new sources of profitable business, are some making risky loans, delving into areas where they have little experience or are otherwise stretching in ways that they will eventually regret.
March 12
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With fatter margins than high-end corporate banking and customers who are more interested in relationships and service than negotiating the lowest price, the commercial middle market is the industry's sweet spot, says consultant and executive recruiter Rod Taylor.
March 7 -
With banks suffering a squeeze on consumer banking profits, the question for institutions large and small is whether emerging mobile and other services can ever make up for declining revenues elsewhere.
March 6 -
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's Edward DeMarco is pushing a plan merge some Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac operations as Congress and the Obama administration continue to punt on housing reform.
March 5 -
A BusinessWeek cover sparked controversy recently because many saw it as racist. But it also stirred concerns because it reinforced a persistent myth about the financial crisis: that it was caused by predatory borrowers, not lenders.
March 4 -
Bankers often complain about regulatory intrusion into the free market, but the industry enjoys a host of subsidies. A recent IMF report showing the largest banks get an implicit subsidy to their funding costs equal to their entire profits was just the latest example. From the FHLBs to FHA, from Fannie and Freddie to the FDIC charter, all banks receive some degree of government support and protection from competition.
March 1 -
There's an oversupply of old-fashioned branches, and banks don't know what to do with them, says industry consultant and executive recruiter Rod Taylor.
February 28 -
The Federal Housing Finance Agency hasn't explained why it stopped Fannie Mae from slashing its hazard insurance costs by hundreds of millions of dollars. The regulator's decision certainly benefits major banks, however, leading critics to cry foul.
February 26
