PayThink

A successful prosecution of JPMorgan would throw into disarray the bank’s substantial and highly lucrative asset management business, among other disincentives for the government to pursue a criminal case.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Six financial regulators issue new racial and gender diversity policies. Directors of each regulator's diversity division helped form new policies that were required under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Five banking and credit union regulators issued a joint statement Tuesday stating that lenders who provide qualified mortgages should not be concerned about inadvertently violating the fair-lending law known as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

A dedicated federal insurance regulator would understand the risks of the insurance business – which are fundamentally different from those in banking – while monitoring systemic dangers posed by the largest insurers.

The Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a proposal on Thursday that would institute tougher liquidity requirements on U.S. financial institutions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused Borders & Borders PLC, a Kentucky law firm, of receiving illegal kickbacks from certain charges on real estate settlements.

Bloomberg estimates big banks receive an $83 billion taxpayer ‘subsidy’ a year. But calculating bank funding levels at normal, as opposed to crisis times, and accounting for Dodd-Frank compliance costs yields a very different estimate.

Politically connected firms might simply be more willing to participate in government-sponsored programs. Or, perhaps more disturbingly, banks might view their political connections as an insurance policy, which may encourage more reckless or risky behavior.

Jeff Plagge, the president and chief executive of Northwest Financial in Arnolds Park, Iowa, and the new chairman of the American Bankers Association believes regulation remains a large industry challenge.