I love this time of year, for a variety of reasons— temperatures dropping, leaves changing, and of course, college football. We just went through the season for patriotism. Memorial Day is the season’s unofficial start. Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, all reminders of the work, symbols and sacrifice that made our country great. The other day, while wandering … [Read more...]
FDIC’s welcome sign for de novos might as well be unplugged.
These days, when some in the political circle are calling for an expansion of Dodd-Frank, the chairman of the FDIC, Martin Gruenberg decided in April to ease regulations in an effort to try to jump start the creation of new banks. As you know, the number of de novos sagged after the Great Recession. In short, Gruenberg slashed the period of microscopic regulatory scrutiny … [Read more...]
At last, a Washington idea community banks and credit unions can use.
Often in this space, we’ve written about how Washington has made community banks its personal punching bag. Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, the FDIC and other financial regulators – as well as Congress and the White House -- have not been friendly to community banks, all while bailing out Wall Street big boys. But at last, news hit quietly several weeks ago about a proposed … [Read more...]
Banker’s brawl helps no one.
An article in the May 11 edition of The Wall Street Journal caught our eye last week. While the piece seemed to emphasize the rift between big and community banks, to us it seemed to serve up some lessons on how – or how not to – compete against the big boys of banking. In short, the story covered a spitting match between Camden Fine, president and CEO of the Independent … [Read more...]