'No wonder they've had 12 straight years of losses': Comments of the Week

December 6, 2018 9:30 PM

Readers sound off on the CFPB's name change, whether the Post Office should be allowed to engage in banking services and the FDIC's call to revamp the de novo process.

On FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams' pledge to revamp the de novo process:

[From former FDIC Chairman Bill Isaac] "The 12th Chairman of the FDIC wholeheartedly supports the 21st Chairman in her efforts to streamline the FDIC's applications processes and to encourage the formation of new banks throughout the country. Community banks are essential to economic growth and we need more of them, not fewer."

Related: We can do better on de novos

U.S. Post Office worker, postal banking, mailman, postman

A United States Postal Service (USPS) letter carrier delivers mail in Shelbyville, Kentucky, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. More than 30 million packages handled by the USPS are estimated to be delivered on December 22, which is still a fraction of the 750 million packages this holiday season, a 12 percent increase over last year. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

On the Treasury Department's recommendation against the U.S. Post Office offering banking services:

"The article failed to mention that the report says the Postal Service should raise prices for package deliveries and that package deliveries 'have not been priced with profitability in mind.' No wonder they've had 12 straight years of losses. If the Postal Service offered loans, would they be priced 'with profitability in mind?'"

Related: Postal Service should stay out of banking: Treasury

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting

Former OCC chief Joseph Otting's CRA proposal was finalized in 2020. However, acting Comptroller Michael Hsu rescinded that in favor of the joint proposal.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

On OCC's warning on the high level of corporate debt:

"Another 'creative' way for Wall Street to create a series of dominos that can tumble and take a disproportionate portion of the economy along - lots of potential for collateral damage as the effects of a downturn are magnified by the leverage and second and third level businesses (the ones that bank on 'Main Street') are impacted by the breakdown of upstream businesses."

Related: Swelling corporate debt could come back to bite banks: OCC

Fed Chair-designate Jerome Powell with President Trump

Jerome Powell, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve and President Donald Trump's nominee as chairman of the Federal Reserve, speaks as Trump, left, listens during a nomination announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. If approved by the Senate, the 64-year-old former Carlyle Group LP managing director and ex-Treasury undersecretary would succeed Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

On whether President Trump could try to fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell:

"The biggest risk to the U.S. economy is, very simply, having someone in charge with an extreme case of impulse control failure. The markets value stability. 600 point daily swings in the DOW tell you everything you need to know about that."

Related: Trump can't fire Jerome Powell. Will he try anyway?

Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), pauses while speaking during a White House press briefing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Mulvaney has called Trump's tax-cutting approach to the economy MAGAnomics, a spin on Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again" and has repeatedly attacked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for its estimates on the impact of Republicans' plans to repeal and replace Obamacare. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

On how Mick Mulvaney's desire to rename the CFPB could cost the industry millions of dollars:

"Considering the source (an internal study by bureaucrats trying to justify their jobs) the $300 million is questionable. But, if it actually does cost $300 million to perform a simple name change then one can only imagine how much this bloated agency is spending on its other bureaucratic activities. It is time to stick a fork into the BCFP and call it done."

Related: Mulvaney's misfire: CFPB name change could cost industry millions of dollars

Exterior of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Washington, DC USA

More on the CFPB name change:

"Only Washington entrenched bureaucrats could figure out how to make a name change potentially cost up to $300 million. No wonder everyone wants DC vendor contracts."

Related: Mulvaney's misfire: CFPB name change could cost industry millions of dollars

The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building stands in this photograph taken with a tilt-shift lens in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. Bill Gross said the Federal Reserve has waited so long to raise interest rates that any move now may be labeled "too little too late" as market turmoil restricts the room for policy makers to act. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News

On whether the Fed should create it's own real-time payment network:

"Zelle and the Clearing House RTP system are just real-time versions of ACH payments, with no new material security enhancements. They just accelerate the fraud ecosystem."

Related: Fed’s quandary: Build or not build a real-time payment network

On Operation Choke Point's legacy:

"Regulator/examiner personal ideology creeps into more than what is described here. It also shows up in CRA exams, in which examiners often dismiss bank efforts because all the bank did was 'write a check' without analyzing the impact of the $ pumped into the community, e.g., # affordable housing units provided or # LMI people benefitted. This is odd when you think about the fact that banks don't get credit for pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity and working up a sweat."

Related: There's no downplaying the impact of Operation Choke Point

American Capital Building in Washington DC at Dusk.

W.Scott McGill - stock.adobe.com

On calls to eliminate CRA:

"The author's observations and suggestions are spot on and wise. I am therefore not optimistic that the politicians and their private sector cohorts who use CRA to extort banks will allow anything like he suggests to happen."

Related: Overhaul CRA? Why not eliminate it?

More on CRA reform:

"Nothing new here, since CATO has been advocating CRA’s repeal since the 1990s. What’s new is a Comptroller and ANPR suggesting radical CRA reforms such as the broad expansion of CRA eligible activities and eliminating the Assessment Area concept. For example, if a bank gets CRA credit everywhere for every loan, investment and service supporting community or economic development, which could be almost anything, then the law will have been effectively repealed. That is, CRA repeal via CRA reform."

Related: Overhaul CRA? Why not eliminate it?