'Banks Are Stunningly Behind the Curve': Comments of the Week
August 23, 2013 7:30 AM
American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.
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On President Obama prodding regulators to speed up implementation of Dodd-Frank rules:
"The amount of burden that has been placed on the banks by rules that are half-baked (with many yet to be written) is enormous
To say nothing is happening is to truly not understand what is actually going on within banks today."
Related Article:
(Image: Bloomberg News)
On a call to ditch the word 'underbanked':
"There was a time when a bank customer had his deposit accounts, mortgage, car loans, credit cards, etc., all at the same institution. That time is gone and is never coming back. Consumers are well informed and use the providers that best meet their need for every financial transaction."
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On a call to ditch the word 'underbanked':
"Silly me I thought that 'underbanked' meant 'opportunity' to develop better relationships with customers to help them improve their financial situation."
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On a call to ditch the word 'underbanked':
"The term 'underbanked' should be used only to refer to a marketing opportunity for banks, not as some kind of policy justification."
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On the failures of blanket financial terminology:
"Who defines 'traditional financial lenders'?
Look closely at your neighborhoods. For many 'borrowers,' a payday loan store is a traditional lender. A check casher is their traditional financial service center."
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On tech companies' lax dress codes:
"'Pants optional'? That is taking workplace casual to a new level."
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On a call for regulators to embrace Bitcoin:
"Any regulation that treats Bitcoin as a traditional centralized payment system will fail. Criminalizing the use of Bitcoin will push it underground and make it harder for law enforcement to track transactions by actual criminals."
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On an alternative to Dodd-Frank's mortgage rules:
"A possible solution to fair housing just might be changing the traditional mortgage to a contract of sale where the lender holds title to the property until the homeowner pays the loan off
The homeowner can have most of the benefits of homeownership and at least the lender is an a somewhat safer position."
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On the need for the risk-modeling required by regulators to be practical and logical:
"Too many times the field examiners enter the bank looking for the technical process for risk analysis rather than the practical output. We need to avoid the scenario where the bubble bursts and the regulators show up on the battlefield to bayonet the wounded."
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On an assertion that banks should get a C+ in postcrisis risk management:
"Back in 2008
we used to joke that as far as banks were concerned a D (or D-minus) was a passing grade
It is very different now, but I sense that as soon as the federal regulators take their eye off the ball, it will slide back."
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On many banks still treating mobile banking as an afterthought:
"Many bankers either see mobile as a required additional channel or a threat to branches. Sadly, many banks are stunningly behind the curve."
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On using an annual percentage rate to describe the price of a short-term loan:
"Telling a customer that the interest rate on a one-month loan is 365% APR makes as much sense as telling a rental car customer that the rental price for his one-day rental car is at the annual rate of $10,950. That provides no useful information to the customer."
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