PayThink

Traditionally Americans have opposed the establishment of single governmental body with jurisdiction over all aspects of the financial system. Instead we have favored a decentralized system with different regulatory agencies for different types of financial activities and institutions.

Prices garnered prior to the crisis have little in common with what banks are worth today or what they will likely be worth in the future. Yet boards and managers remain irrationally fixated on outdated, irrelevant valuations.

Dodd-Frank establishes U.S. financial stability as a critical hurdle for regulators to evaluate before approving future mergers and acquisitions.

Last week, we witnessed the largest initial public offering of a technology company in U.S. history — a company that offers its main service for free, lives entirely on the internet, and is run by a 28-year-old. The euro fell into deeper jeopardy, not merely because of news from the debt markets and at the ballot box, but because Greek and Spanish borrowers reacted to that news in real time, withdrawing much of their euro-denominated savings from domestic banks. And a $2 billion bank loss, based on computer-driven and model-based decision making, almost instantaneously impacted policy discussions and market movements, even before facts became clear.

Lost in all the talk about Dodd-Frank Act's various regulatory pieces is a looming — and transformational — rule around compensation.

Lots of ink has been spilled over the loss of at least $2 billion in JPMorgan Chase's Chief Investment Office in London. And nothing, so far, has been learned.

The announcement is surprising as it follows so soon after hefty penalties were assessed against many other banks for their overdraft programs.

The facts in the JPMorgan Chase (JPM) "London Whale" case are still being sorted out, but that hasn't stopped analysts — myself included — from pondering its policy impact. Much of what the bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, calls punditry has focused on whether the $2 billion-plus loss proves points on the Volcker Rule, TBTF, CEO compensation and, perhaps, nicknames.

A conversation about credit unions and frank responses.

For the past decade or so, most credit unions have relied upon one of two things to forecast branch volume for scheduling purposes-industry averages or tradition.