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Aug 01
2010
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Sometimes the government surprises us by cranking out a best seller, despite itself. The report of the 9-11 Commission is one example.
Category >> Editors Column
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Jul 01
2010
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They never gave upPosted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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It’s a tribute to the tenacity of the banking industry that as we wrote this at the end of June, the giant financial reform bill was still hanging in the balance. By the time you read this, of course, it will almost certainly have either been signed into law or failed to pass. That we could even write that second option is quite amazing considering the pressure to pass this sweeping and flawed bill.
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Jun 01
2010
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Better prepared than surprisedPosted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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Writing in his column last month about the pending regulatory reform legislation, ABA Chairman Art Johnson observed, “My son is the compliance officer for our family-owned bank. As I like to tell people, that puts him on the growth side of the business.”
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May 01
2010
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Choices amid the babblePosted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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With all the palaver and outright rubbish emanating from Washington, the media, and the web about banking these days, there is a crying need, and golden opportunity, to be a voice of reason and honesty in your own sphere. Not voice only, but also a choice of reason and honesty.
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Apr 01
2010
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Welcome to the new ABA Banking Journal. We especially welcome those readers of Community Banker magazine who have not heretofore been familiar with ABA Banking Journal. The truth is, regular readers and new readers are looking at a publication that has substantially changed. What you have is the best of both of ABA’s general circulation monthly magazines—each of which had a rich and long-standing tradition.
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Mar 01
2010
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One way to rebuild trustPosted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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A great many banks and savings institutions rightfully feel that the ignominy heaped upon the industry by an angry Congress and its media cohorts is not justified by anything they did. Feeling abused, however, won’t make the tarnish go away.
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Feb 01
2010
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Another type of “traditional”Posted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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There’s been a reaffirmation of late of the
concept of traditional banking. While there’s no official definition of
that term, our sense is that it is usually taken to mean the business
of raising deposits and using them to make loans. As many people have
observed, banking is a fairly simple business. Whether a person is any
good at it depends largely on how carefully they lend out the money and
how well they manage their cost of funds and operating expenses. It’s
more complex in practice, naturally. (The article on interest rate
risk, p.28, makes that clear.)
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Dec 31
2009
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As the second half beginsPosted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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For more than a year the banking industry has faced the risk that its very future would be hijacked by the political reaction to the events of 2007-8. That the reaction was coming was certain. That something was needed was clear. You can’t come to the brink of financial and economic meltdown and not need changes.
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Dec 01
2009
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“I took my in-laws out for a holiday brunch and put it on my debit card. Thank God my bank had overdraft protection, because I had forgotten to transfer in money to cover the meal!”
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Nov 01
2009
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A window opensPosted by Bill Streeter in Editors Column |
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Credit problems always develop in an economic downturn. If every bank advanced money only to those borrowers who they felt would remain unscathed through the worst-case scenario, the economy would shrink to levels of 30 years ago.
