PayThink

Recently, the issue of a lender's authority and right to pursue foreclosure on defaulted residential mortgage loans has become a subject of national interest. It is at the heart of the $25 billion settlement agreed to recently between the Federal government, 49 state attorneys general and the nation's five largest loan servicers.

The Fed's counterparty limit is not so much a banking rule as an indirect antitrust rule. It will create opportunities for smaller institutions to compete. That's the real reason terrified big-bank CEOs are meeting with Fed Governor Tarullo.

Executive compensation has been an important topic in the investor community for over a decade. Unfortunately, shareholders have gone largely unheard and the issue has been little more than a blip on the radar of corporate America.

Don't think of this business as residential lending. It's really a low-risk form of asset-based lending.

While having dinner with a couple of old banker friends recently, our conversation turned to a consistent challenge many management teams face. It started when one friend shared that he was recently in a meeting in which his bank's "revised" incentive plan for branch managers and frontline employees was being explained.

Dodd-Frank went a long way toward ending too-big-to-fail. Since large, diversified financial institutions provide significant economic value to clients, the likely effect of arbitrary and preemptive break-ups would be to concede global financial leadership to other jurisdictions.

The CFPB's mission is to protect consumers from financial harm.

The last few weeks have seen good news (with a potential to become Revised News), bad news, and news that depends on your perspective-as news most often does.

Are Multi-Million-Dollar Salaries Sign Of Lost Way?

While today's volatile financial environment offers opportunity for credit unions to build their memberships, the challenges are twofold.