PayThink

Money was never meant to be a method of supranational identity tracking. Its use in that way could signal law enforcement desperation. When all other tactics fail, surveil the finances.

Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, addressed the issue of consumers' lack of choice in a speech last month.

Holding companies facing looming debt maturities are exposed to the risk of a forced sale or possible forfeiture of the stock of their bank subsidiaries.

Tough regulations, strict oversight and sophisticated analytics can all help, but they pale in comparison to a culture that actively embraces risk management rather than paying lip service to it.

Results suggests safety when there is none and diverts attention from the real need for structural reform.

Abolish the public/private hybrid model of Fannie and Freddie, sell or liquidate their businesses, and privatize the mortgage market. This can be done in an orderly way in a few easy steps.

Breaking up big banks as way to score our pound of flesh post-financial crisis could result in increased unemployment, higher credit costs for all and a transfer of risk from banks to lightly regulated shadow financial institutions.

At a confirmation vote on Tuesday morning, the Senate Banking Committee was split down party lines in support of Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The panel voted in favor of Mary Jo White to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, with only one vote against her nomination.

Rewriting the longstanding structures of corporate law and the roles and responsibilities of bank boards could create chaos in the global corporate and financial structures.

There's an emerging bipartisan consensus on the way forward for the secondary mortgage market. But as Congress has punted, the FHFA is taking significant steps without hearings or public discussion.