PayThink

Has the recession created a permanent culture of thrift in the United States? The answer, according to Timothy H. Murphy, MasterCard's group executive of core products, is a conditional yes.

This week the House Financial Services Committee will continue plugging away at a gigantic markup of the financial regulatory reform legislation it has produced. The committee will carry on with its debate over a proposed consumer products regulator and then move on to investor protection. If the past two days’ worth of markups is any indication, the partisan divide will dominate. Regulators will be busy this week too, with a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board meeting and appearances by Federal Reserve officials.

How would the insurance industry hold up under the scrutiny of a nationwide consumer protection regulator? If the partisan conflicts swirling around Capitol Hill continue to comingle reform issues, that question might be more than just hypothetical. Bickering over healthcare reform could be pushing Congress towards mandating a federal insurance charter.

You can't just offer a service today; you have to do it well. In today's hypercompetitive market, a key strategy for success is design. How do you know if you have a design problem? Research: ask, listen, and learn.

Alternative capital, alternative future?

It's very likely that at your credit union it's time for a good old-fashioned conversation between your staff and your members.

No two credit unions offer exactly the same products and services, and no two do everything in exactly the same way. When credit unions merge, the members of one or both of the credit unions are asked to adjust to some changes. Even when the net effect is beneficial, at least some members will be unhappy with at least some of the changes. Effective management of that inevitable discontent shortens the time it takes for the members to regard themselves as contented participants in the continuing, merged entity.

Tired of hearing warnings that a new consumer financial products agency will hurt your local florist? Eliot Spitzer has a solution. He thinks you should complain to your pension fund or mutual fund about it.

The most powerful woman in banking, Heidi Miller of JPMorgan Chase & Co., was asked to weigh in this week on the succession speculation games playing out at several large banking companies.

Observers of financial regulatory reform have pronounced the effort to get new legislation passed this year pretty much dead. Even Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair doesn’t think it’s going to happen before the end of 2009. But Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is pushing ahead with all of the urgency—and confidence—in the world. This week (shortened by the Columbus Day holiday Monday) could see the first legislation relating to the Obama administration’s regulatory reform proposals reported out of the Financial Services Committee. But there are probably quite a few people who say they’ll only believe it when it happens.</