With the leaders of both national trade groups coming from Michigan, we get a chance to wrestle with a fascinating question: how does a banker choose which trade group to support? Many bankers are active in both the trade groups in their state, but others decide to line up largely or solely … Read more
After two years of write-downs, credit quality is stabilizing at Milwaukee’s Marshall & Ilsley Corporation, clearing a path for the $58 billion holding company to return to profitability. [Continue]
Small business is the heart of our economy. Here are three simple things government could do to encourage entrepreneurship and small business ownership. First, give self-employed people parity with employees on FICA. When you work for someone else, you are required to pay 6.2 percent of your income for Social Security. But if you leave … Read more
Narayana Kocherlakota, who became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on Oct. 8, used his first public speech as the bank’s 12th president to defend the Federal Reserve’s role as a bank supervisor. [Continue]
While examiners are telling bankers to put the brakes on lending, not all sectors of the regulatory apparatus doubt the banker’s ability to make good loans and manage assets appropriately. The FDIC’s asset management folks clearly have a lot of confidence in bankers. Many of the successful bids for failed banks are … Read more
Bankers turned out in record numbers to the Wisconsin Bankers Association Executives’ Conference Feb. 8-10 in downtown Milwaukee. [Continue]
CBW President/CEO Daryll Lund addressed bankers at the WBA Executives’ Conference in a first outing for a CBW official at a major WBA event. [Continue]
Economist Jim Johannes of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, painted a bleak economic outlook in his address to bankers at the WBA’s Executives’ Conference. [Continue]
One can only be outraged by the series of government missteps which led to the collapse of FBOP Corp, a $19 billion banking enterprise. FBOP had almost $900 million invested in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock. When federal authorities put the GSEs into conservatorship in September 2008, they wiped out … Read more
Hearing is stage for Kelly to share story of FBOP’s collapse. [Continue]