A couple of years back in this blog, we noted with more than a dash of skepticism that the FDIC was trying to make it easier for new banks to test the financial waters. After all, the actions by then - FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg to jump start the creation of new institutions – slashing the period of microscopic regulatory scrutiny for new bank ventures from eight months to … [Read more...]
Trump Tax Cuts – Benefiting Wall Street or Main Street?
When Congress passed the White House-backed tax reform legislation late last year, we at BankMarketingCenter.com tried to strike a positive chord, pointing to community banks that had increased wages and bonuses for employees. Now, six months after the historic cuts, it appears the cuts have caused bank profits to increase to levels not seen in the past 20 years, at least … [Read more...]
Study Sacks FDIC Fears on Brokered Deposits
Subprime mortgages, greedy big banks and brokered deposits were at the root of the 2007 financial crisis, or so goes the case of federal regulators who helped saddle institutions big and small with Dodd- Frank. But a recent study by a former bank regulator and respected scholar, James R. Barth and a doctoral student Yanfei Sun, both from my alma mater, Auburn University, has … [Read more...]
Yes, bank marketers can learn something from reporters.
I can hear the loud chuckles and scoffing and see the fire engine red faces already. Over the last few years, news coverage of the banking industry has not been warm and fuzzy –e.g. Wells Fargo – but admittedly, that was the institution’s own doing. And while politicians have made it popular in their circle to howl “fake news” when something hits print, broadcast, or online … [Read more...]
Will Europe’s new banking laws skip across the pond.
In recent posts, we’ve (figuratively) pulled up a chair to discuss the way the financial services industry is changing, as technology opens the door for non-traditional players like Wal-Mart, Google, Apple and others to join the banking marketplace. In one of the latest – and most intriguing – developments, the European Union has handed down PSD2, the Revised Payment Service … [Read more...]