“Finally, a senior banking regulator has acknowledged the so-called repeal of Glass-Steagall had nothing to do with the 2008 financial crisis.” [Louise Bennetts, Cato at Liberty]
Posts Tagged ‘banks’
Small-bank CEO: I spend 50-60% of my time dealing with regulatory issues
Maryland Reporter on what an Eastern Shore banker told a forum arranged by the state’s tax authorities:
The CEO of Easton Bank and Trust, Mike Menzies, said the new standardized approach in how the banks count assets along with state regulation policies have a distinct impact on the loans they can lend to small businesses….
Menzies said that regulations associated with the federal Credit Card Card Act, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and Dodd-Frank Act have have placed large burdens on banks, forcing them to devote more human resources toward regulatory compliance than is necessary.
“I would say that seven years ago, I would spend 20 to 25% of my time as CEO of a small company dealing with regulatory issues,” said Menzies. “I spend no less than 50 or 60 percent of my time today dealing with regulatory issues. It’s unbelievable.”
Banking and finance roundup
- FATCA: “Another American Turns in Passport to Protest Idiotic New Banking Regulations” [Matt Welch, earlier]
- Cato president John Allison discusses his new book “The Financial Crisis and the Free-Market Cure” [video, earlier; John Tamny, Forbes]
- “The Unintended Consequences of Cracking Down on Payday Lenders” [A. Barton Hinkle, earlier]
- Trial lawyers’ uses for “say on pay” [Bainbridge] Suits after mergers [Kevin LaCroix on Boris Feldman article]
- Massachusetts law restricting foreclosures is likely to backfire [Anthony Randazzo] “Foreclose on state AGs” [Michael Greve, Law and Liberty]
- ACLU (ACLU?) sues Morgan Stanley over allegedly predatory loans [Althouse] Suing Wells Fargo twice is not very nice [Reynolds Holding, Reuters]
- “More evidence that Dodd-Frank is hurting small banks” [Ammon Simon, earlier]
Maryland roundup
- Md. Access to Justice Commission pushes controversial Civil Gideon, lopsided fee shift rules [report]
- Montgomery County voters will decide on extending police collective bargaining [WaPo]
- “Baltimore: The city that sues the banks” [Fortune]
- “New Pit Bull Dog Bite Law in Maryland? Not So Fast” [Ron Miller, earlier] “Landlords Held Responsible For Pit Bull Injuries; Tenants Face Eviction and Legal Battle” [CBS Baltimore]
- Maryland pays far higher fees to investment managers for its pension fund than most states do. How’d that happen? And should states rely on index investments instead? [Governing]
- Legislature not final word? State’s high court mulls ditching contributory for comparative fault [WaPo]
- Business appalled at Montgomery County Council bill requiring 90 day severance to service contractors’ employees [Washington Examiner, Gazette]
Banking and finance roundup
- New York sues J.P. Morgan [Bloomberg, David Zaring, Conglomerate, WaPo (federal role), WSJ] “Bove: Banks Should Leave NY For Greener Pastures” [MoneyNews]
- Mass filing of complaints over non-accessible ATM machines, predicted in this space, has begun [Credit Union Times]
- Favorable Ira Stoll review of “The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure,” new book by longtime BB&T chief and new Cato Institute president John Allison [Future of Capitalism]
- “Bank Of America’s $2.4 Billion Settlement Another Lawyer-Induced Dividend” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
- Excessive scrutiny of SSDI income in lending said to violate disabled-rights law [Kevin Funnell, Bank Lawyers Blog]
- “SBA Has Killed Innovation in Small Business Lending” [Coyote]
- If the government bans the payday lending business, would it be missed? [Victor Stango, Cato Regulation mag, PDF]
CFPB recruits for “surveillance activities”
A recruitment ad for the newly established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seeks investigators qualified to “establish and conduct surveillance activity to develop both intelligence and evidence to further investigations,” for matters that include “delicate matters, issues and investigative problems for which there are few, if any, established criteria.” Among the job duties: retain and oversee private investigators who might pose as consumers of financial services.
A similar plan at the Department of Health and Human Services was scrapped last year after some members of Congress complained that it amounted to spying. Health officials wanted to send “mystery shoppers” into doctors’ offices to gauge Medicaid and Medicare patients’ access to primary care physicians.
The agency says it intends to operate in accord with law and respect individuals’ privacy rights. [Washington Times via Kevin Funnell]
Great moments in financial employment regulation
Thanks to new federal banking and mortgage guidelines with $1-million-a-day penalties for noncompliance, banks are scrambling to fire any employee who has previously been convicted of a crime involving dishonesty. Among those tossed out: a bank employee with seven years’ service who used a slug in a washing machine in 1963, and a 58-year-old customer service representative with a shoplifting conviction forty years ago. A lawyer says thousands of employees have been fired under the new rules. [Des Moines Register/USA Today via ABA Journal]
Financial roundup
- New York plaintiff wanders the South looking for ATMs out of compliance with federal fee sticker regulation [Kevin Funnell, Bank Lawyers’ Blog, earlier]
- In the mail: Stephen Bainbridge, “Corporate Governance After the Financial Crisis” (Oxford, 2012), with blurb from NYT “Deal Professor” Steven Davidoff: “an important book for those seeking to understand the theoretical and practical implications of Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the federal government’s foray into corporate regulation.”
- American lawprof understandably unpopular trying to defend FATCA to the Swiss [TaxProf, earlier here, etc.]
- Bank is trustee for mortgage holders, says loan servicers are responsible: “LA Files Big-Bucks Suit Against ‘Slumlord’ US Bank, Blames Lender for Condition of Foreclosed Homes” [ABA Journal]
- “Swiss Banks Face ‘Slow Death’ As Foreign Powers Chase Undeclared Assets” [Giles Broom, Bloomberg/Business Insider]
- “A comprehensive list of hyperinflations in history” [Steve Hanke/Nicholas Krus, PDF, via Ian Vasquez, Cato]
- Warning: regs could “wipe out community banking industry by end of this decade” [Cam Fine, ICBA via Iain Murray]
July 27 roundup
- “Banks push back against lawsuits that target fee-warning signs on ATMs” [NYT via PoL]
- Crash fraud and clinic fraud: organized crime gangs eye insurance money [Dennis Jay, PC360]
- Maryland pit bull ruling endangers dogs that have harmed no one [Wash Times editorial, ABA Journal, earlier] New Jersey town bans dog and cat sales at new pet stores [Asbury Park Press; Brick, N.J.]
- “Cato is mentioned roughly equally by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.” [Caleb Brown]
- “Futile remedies for mass shootings” [Steve Chapman, Reason]
- “After Awful Tragedies, The Campus Bureaucracy Expands” [Harvey Silverglate, Minding the Campus]
- “Delaware judges mean it: Don’t file derivative suit pre-investigation” [Alison Frankel, Reuters]
July 20 roundup
- Congress, HUD face off on “disparate impact” in housing and housing finance [WSJ edit, Clegg/NRO] Wells Fargo says it didn’t base loans on race but will pay $175 million to end federal probe [Reuters]
- Maryland vs. Virginia: if only there were a government that was consistent about favoring liberty [John Walters, Maryland Public Policy Institute]
- British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal levies $3000 against husband-and-wife owners of bed-and-breakfast who canceled reservation of gay couple based on religious objections [Religion Clause, The Province] UK: “‘Gay flatmate wanted’ ads break equality laws” [Telegraph] See our earlier coverage of the Ninth Circuit Roommate.com case here and here.
- “Lifeguard fired for saving drowning person — outside his designated zone.” [NBC Miami via @commongood]
- “Do you want to be informed about the constant, infuriating corporate welfare for professional sports owners? Follow FieldOfSchemes.com” [Matt Welch]
- Negligent entrustment lawsuit against parents who let 33 year old daughter drive car yields $1.2 million in Tennessee [Knoxville News]
- Pretrial and discovery: “New York state bar recommends federal litigation reforms” [Reuters]