PayThink

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke doesn't want community bankers to stay up at night worrying about Dodd-Frank. Most of the provisions don't apply, he says. Well, what about the concern that the big bank requirements eventually be the norm for all? He assures us that won't be the case.

At the Democratic convention Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senate candidate and pioneer of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, offered “the week's highest profile defense of the Dodd-Frank Act,” writes American Banker’s Kevin Wack.

Some courts will deem financial institutions liable simply for knowing about the red flags, while others require proof the bank knew about their customers' schemes. This subjective standard is often unfair and difficult to manage.

The anonymous blackmailers may be trying to manipulate the market price of bitcoins, even if their claim to possesses Mitt Romney's tax returns is hoax.

The capital markets are where growth is occurring today and if banks want to be profitable in the future they won't be able to do it solely or even principally by making loans.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's first report this year on a Big Four firm confirms my long-held suspicion: Auditors have been too easy on banks when they book reserves for loan losses and repurchase demands.

Debit card issuers used to promote signature transactions over PIN. But now, in a post-Durbin world, the interchange revenues from both are similar, so “issuers are now trying to guide shoppers to use personal identification numbers” because of the lower costs, explains American Banker’s Victoria Finkle.

Financial institutions that do the same things should have the same oversight. Unfortunately, we're a long way from regulatory parity, even after Dodd-Frank.

Designating certain companies as systemically important accomplishes nothing more than putting them into a closer relationship with the government, making the designation itself a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If Congress fails to extend this 2007 law, millions of already-struggling families would face a substantial tax bill shortly after working out a deal with their mortgage lender – undermining short sales and other foreclosure prevention efforts.