Risk

A new chief risk officer was among the appointments announced Wednesday, as CEO Michael Rhodes began to put his imprint on Ally.

Industry Bancshares has been bogged down for years with unrealized losses. The Federal Reserve issued a cease-and-desist order against the firm, following similar actions by other agencies.

Huge portfolios of outstanding private credit, issued by lenders completely free of banklike supervision and safety and soundness requirements, are almost certainly of lower quality than banks' loan portfolios. If they implode, the damage could be extensive.

Every time we revise bank capital rules, we uncover new flaws that leave banks unprepared for unexpected stress events.

As long as fraud-prevention efforts remain siloed and bank-specific, perpetrators remain free to employ the same strategies over and over. Banks need to do a better job of sharing information and collaborating.

An uptick in fines associated with anti-money-laundering failures demonstrates that U.S. banks still have much work to do in terms of optimizing their internal systems to identify and stop the flow of dirty money.

Banks are not likely to see their regulatory capital requirements decline any time soon. But the way capital levels are calculated could be made more reflective of real risks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Texas banking regulators issued consent orders against Industry State Bank, Fayetteville Bank and Citizens State Bank, requiring major overhauls of their management, capital and risk controls.