There is lots of interest in public banking given the recent passage of a public banking law in California. I start the discussion about the ND experience in this post.
Public Banking: Bank of North Dakota Assets
FocusEconomics: 21 experts tell us what the future looks like for cryptocurrenices and blockchain
Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, or your favorite other term here. I gave my outlook on these to the people at Focus Economics and you can find the post at this link, Blog Link.
Limiting Bank Size
I would file this under the heading, we need to be seen doing something. The Fed has come up with a limit to the size of banks based on the amount of liabilities of the firm (WSJ story). This is where the combination of free market ideas and risk mitigation come into conflict. One of the first questions I ask my students in bank regulation is, “Is big necessarily bad?” What we do going forward is not clear, but this regulation isn’t going to affect current banks, as in make them get smaller. So how have we really changed things? We haven’t, but it looks like we are doing something.
China Bank Regulator Planning to Expand Credit
Even planned economies can encounter trouble with lending and defaults. Such has been the case with China over the last year or so. A regulatory crackdown on connected lending and less than above board tactics has been ongoing as well. Now there is the promise that credit availability will expand, but in accordance with regulatory wishes (Bloomberg article).
Continue reading China Bank Regulator Planning to Expand Credit
Doing the French Mistake
I think the aspect of this I find the most amusing in this article is the suggestion from President Hollande that the penalty would “…[introduce] a risk, doubts, suspicions about the soundness of Europe’s financial system…” This seems to suggest that we do not already have doubts and suspicions about the risks and soundness of the European financial system. You broke the rules, and you pay the price. The move to make companies admit guilt is a new approach, and a welcome one. This forces banks to really address what their policies are and face the consequences.