Opinion News from American Banker

Regulators have suggested changes to the ratings system they use to gauge banks' safety and soundness that would reduce scrutiny of management quality. It would leave them blind to clear signs of future problems.

A value resurgence will overtake growth-stock dominance — the catalysts are already in motion, says Bernard Horn of Polaris Capital Management.

Regulators have signaled that the speed of progress in generative and agentic artificial intelligence makes producing definitive guidance impractical. That does not remove banks' obligation to face up to their risks.

Multiple states are testing the ability of federal banking regulations to preempt state laws. If they succeed, a core pillar of the U.S. economy — the dual banking system — could begin to crumble.

Tokenization of assets is going to transform global finance, but by dragging their heels on establishing clear rules of the road, U.S. regulators could be pushing the development of key infrastructure overseas.

Plans to allow U.S. banks to reduce the capital they hold create uncomfortable echoes of past turmoil in credit markets. As regulators contemplate relaxing standards meant to protect the public, they should look to past financial crises.

How much of the FOMO is manufactured?

With a $10M gift to create and run a school of financial planning, Ric Edelman aims to solve the retirement readiness crisis and wealth management's talent shortage.

In passing the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act, Congress intended to create national rules that would guide lending across state borders. States can't simply opt out of them.

The original cryptocurrency lies at the bleeding edge of the risk curve, and its cross currents say something about how feisty the market is feeling.

The FDIC's recent analysis of the deposit flight that helped take down Silicon Valley, Signature and First Republic banks in 2023 is informative. However, it leaves unanswered some important questions about regulators' assumptions related to brokered deposits.

The coming mixed-martial-arts fight on the White House lawn is bound to get a lot of attention, but a far more consequential heavyweight fight between President Trump and former Fed Chair Jerome Powell has already been decided.

Arbitrary financial regulation "cliffs," such as the one imposed by the Durbin Amendment, create incentives that distort decision making. Congress should step in and reform the various measures that rely on such imprecise triggers.

A private credit fund got suckered into the Aspiration Partners fraud; is that an 'it could have happened to anybody,' or a sign that the industry has low standards?

Even the Federal Reserve has limited visibility into the nonbank and private credit markets. That's a problem for banks that are increasingly lending to those sectors.

Applications from Enova International and Opportunity Financial for national bank charters present a danger to consumers. The Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency should block them.

Bank CEOs pay is rising again, as the leaders of the largest banks all top $40 million now; the next Fed chair needs to contend with a splintered board.

A revised Basel III endgame proposal from the Federal Reserve would fundamentally change the economics of mortgage lending for banks — improving returns, reshaping pricing and reopening a market they sidelined.

Regulators must move toward a more workable model that regulates the intermediaries that custody and control assets, not the underlying software. This would actually be the smarter choice, as blockchains provide transparency and thus better compliance than in traditional banking.

There is a difference between combating discrimination and forcing bankers to ignore problems.