PayThink

Two years into Dodd-Frank implementation, how is compliance going from an information technology perspective? Banks still have plenty of IT challenges to work through, agree consultants in a collection of mini-essays presented by Bank Systems & Technology. Curiously the lone voice of optimism the mix comes from a bank CEO.

You've probably heard of the Office of Financial Research's database for tracking financial companies like barcodes. It's also tasked with building another system that's equally critical – and a much greater technical challenge.

How can we make sure that when the big banks' troubles give us a chance to compete for new members, we have the weapons to compete effectively?

Some observational souvenirs picked up in various airport gift shops. And before you ask, no, I didn't save the receipts and you won't be getting a refund.

Historically low interest rates and weak loan demand have masked the long-term profit potential of core deposits. When (not if) the cycle turns, community banks' earnings power will reappear.

Payday and advance deposit loans have been getting a lot of regulatory attention recently.

Many borrowers with great credit can't get financing rates commensurate with their low risk. There's a major opportunity for banks to generate attractive returns by providing fairly priced student loans to these customers.

Rep. Barney Frank says the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday to uphold President Obama's healthcare reform legislation gives a bleak outlook for legal opposition to Obama's other major piece of legislation: the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is required under Dodd-Frank to study the reverse mortgage sector, has found that the products "are not being used as intended, with increasingly younger borrowers taking out larger pots of money rather than gradual income streams to help finance their later years," writes American Banker's Joe Adler in his coverage of the bureau's report.

Much time and energy was spent on a campaign to regulate an optional service consumers could avoid paying for. Meanwhile, mortgage securitization was going gangbusters. Priorities were perhaps misplaced.