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Banking Is Changing Faster than You Can Say 'Alibaba'by BONNIE MCGEER

DEC 29, 2014 12:00am ET

One of the people I enjoy talking to when brainstorming story ideas is Bradley Leimer, who recently became the head of innovation for Santander Bank. He's always thinking about what comes next in banking, mashing seemingly disparate things together in an interesting way and going off in unexpected directions. A recent conversation where I asked him to weigh in on some of the topics we planned to cover in our annual ideas issue started off with him talking about the disappearance of the app and circled around by the end to him essentially predicting the disappearance of banking as we know it."When you can no longer make money off interchange and fees, how is that going to change the model? Unfortunately, it's going to take 80% of the market upside-down, and we're already seeing the beginning of that for smaller institutions," Leimer said.

We addressed this need for a business transformation in an idea we titled "Get radical in looking for revenue." But many of the other ideas we share in this issue also explore ways to boost income, whether through new lending opportunities or strategies to attract new customers.

Leimer, who is all in favor of experimenting with how to create income opportunities, suggested during our chat that banks could help their small-business customers save money by analyzing the payments these businesses make for supplies like paper and negotiating a bulk deal on their behalf. He heard Standard Chartered offered a discount on phone services to some of its customers in Asia after striking a deal with a telecom company.

"Who's talking about that? Nobody I know," Leimer said.

Nobody we knew either at the time. But it just so happens we later came across a small New York bank that is testing just such a service.

Congress created the CFPB as an independent Bureau within the Federal Reserve System as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, in direct response to a severe financial crisis. While the immediate effects of the turmoil have receded over the last several years, structural issues that the CFPB has identified through its work clearly signal that the Bureau’s mission of protecting American consumers remains as critical as ever. The Bureau will continue to work closely with Congress, businesses, consumer advocates, and Federal, state, and local partners to increase continuously its effectiveness and the robustness of its consumer protection efforts.

--Message from Richard Cordray, The CFPB strategic plan, budget, and performance plan and report, February 2015

“The CFPB continues to grow and mature as a Federal agency. In our short existence, we have grown from 58 employees at the beginning of fiscal year 2011 to 1,335 employees at

the end of fiscal year 2013.”

--Richard Courdray, CFPB Financial Report – Fiscal Year 2013

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently published its financial results for its fiscal year ending in 2014.

At the end of its fiscal year, the CFPB has 1,443 employees.

2014 - 1,443 employees2011 - 58 employees

Obama Seeks More Money for Agencies Enforcing Dodd-Frank Rules

(Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is making a renewed push to boost funding for Wall Street’s top cops after regulators said budget constraints were keeping them from enforcing rules put in place after the financial crisis.

The funding requests for fiscal 2016, released by the White House Monday as part of a broad spending proposal for the federal government, would raise the Securities and Exchange Commission’s budget 15 percent to $1.7 billion. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the main U.S. regulator of the $700 trillion global swaps market, would get a 29 percent increase to $322 million.

The requests, which require congressional approval, set up a fight with Republican lawmakers who’ve resisted Obama’s past efforts to provide more money for agencies responsible for implementing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Republicans now control both chambers of Congress and have made revising the financial-regulation law a legislative priority.

By Silla Brush and Dave Michaels 11:30 AM EST  February 2, 2015

Dodd-Frank gave the SEC and CFTC wide-ranging responsibilities to rein in banks’ risky trading, write regulations for the derivatives markets and set new standards for Wall Street pay. With many of the rules written, regulators are turning their attention to ensuring firms are complying with the new oversight.

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BY NORA COLOMERJAN 7, 2015 11:25am ET

The amount of commercial mortgage debt maturing is set to spike this year, when loans taken out during the height of the real estate bubble start coming due. Between 2015 and 2017, more than $300 billion will need to be refinanced.

That's more than 2.5 times the amount that matured from 2012 to 2014, according to Trepp.

This wall of maturities will be a real test of the recovery of the capital markets. Property values have rebounded in many parts of the country, particularly in so-called gateway cities, which are attracting foreign investment. Underwriting standards have also loosened amid growing competition from banks, insurance companies and conduit lenders, and interest rates are still low.

Yet rates are inevitably headed higher now that the Federal Reserve has ended its quantitative easing program, and vacancies are rising at office and retail properties, which account for the bulk of maturing loan balances.

New risk retention rules, which must be implemented by January 2017, could increase the cost of new loans.

CMBS issuance fell just short of $100 billion in 2014 and is forecast to rise marginally this year. The pace of originations will need to be stepped up considerably to take down the maturity wall. Even so, Trepp estimates that almost 20% of the commercial mortgages maturing over the next three years will require additional capital, either from current borrowers or new buyers, when the loan is refinanced or the property is sold.

"CMBS investors are well aware of the risks inherent in the wall of maturities," the data tracker wrote in a report published late last year. "The question is, what will the economy look like in six months, in a year, in two years when the brunt of this wave is set to hit the CRE market?“

To be sure, participants are much more optimistic about the ability of these borrowers to refinance than they were even a year ago. JPMorgan, for example, believes that 80% of the commercial mortgages maturing in 2015 will be refinanced; in 2013 the bank only expected 74% of those loans would be refinanced.

And Wells Fargo expects $105 billion of the $130 billion of commercial mortgage debt set to mature in 2015 alone to be securitized.

The Great Flood: How CMBS Will Handle $300B Coming Due in 2015-2017

THE NEW YORK TIMESBy ALICIA PARLAPIANO, ROBERT GEBELOFF and SHAN CARTER JAN. 26, 2015

BY CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABERAP ECONOMICS WRITER01/29/2015 2:06 PM

WASHINGTON The number of people seeking unemployment aid plunged last week to the lowest level in almost 15 years, a sign hiring will likely remain healthy.

Weekly applications dropped 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That is the lowest level since April 2000. It is also the biggest decline in two years. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell 8,250 to 298,500.

The latest drop may have been exaggerated by the federal holiday, which likely slowed the processing of some claims.

Still, applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the sharp decline means companies are probably cutting fewer jobs. The four-week average has fallen 11 percent in the past year. At the same time, hiring has picked up. Employers added almost 3 million jobs last year, the most since 1999. Strong economic growth has encouraged companies to add more workers.

"This is good news," said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. "But it was also a holiday-shortened week so there could be a special factor perhaps artificially deflating the number. A partial reversal next week ... should still show an improving labor market.“

Last week included the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, when state unemployment offices were closed. That could have delayed the processing of some applications, a Labor Department spokesman said. The unemployed can apply for benefits online, though they are typically less likely to do so on a holiday. That suggests applications could rise next week.

Some of the drop also reflects the end of seasonal layoffs of temporary employees hired by retailers and restaurants for the winter holidays. Those layoffs caused a spike in applications in early January. They reached a seven-month high of 317,000 three weeks ago. The government tries to adjust for such seasonal patterns but isn't always able to do so perfectly.

Applications have been near or below 300,000 since September. That suggests companies are confident enough in the economy to hold onto their staffs.

Last year's robust hiring means that more Americans are earning paychecks than a year ago. That should boost consumer spending and help power faster economic growth this year. Most economists forecast growth will top 3 percent in 2015 for the first time in a decade.

Yet wage growth has lagged hiring. Average wages increased only 1.7 percent in 2014. That's down from 1.9 percent in 2013 and much lower than the 3.5 percent to 4 percent that is consistent with a healthy economy.

US unemployment benefit applications plunge to 15-year low

Just Treading Water? Our 2014 Ranking of Mid-Tier Banks

Performance among banks and thrifts with $2 billion to $10 billion of assets has not changed much over the past year, judging from our annual ranking.

This year 52 institutions show a three-year average return on equity in the double digits, up only slightly from last year's 49, according to data from SNL Financial.

It is perhaps even more telling that for just as many institutions in this size range — fully 52 of them — net income fell in 2013 compared with the year earlier. Two others posted losses in both years, with just one of those narrowing the loss for 2013.

by BONNIE MCGEERJUL 28, 2014 12:00am ET

What Obama's State of the Union Address Means for Banksby VICTORIA FINKLE, JAN 21, 2015 7:33am ET

WASHINGTON — President Obama vowed to veto any future "unraveling" of the Dodd-Frank Act during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, further uniting Democrats against major changes to the law under the GOP-led Congress.

The speech largely focused on the White House's efforts to grow jobs, raise wages and rewrite the tax code, along with plans to improve diplomacy abroad. But it also contained several nods to the financial services world, including an urgent plea to Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation.

Below are three key takeaways for the banking industry from Obama's second-to-last address before Congress.

Obama holds the line on Dodd-Frank

Arguably the president's strongest statement on financial services policy came as part of a larger promise to stop Republican efforts to undo some of his most controversial programs: his executive actions on immigration, his landmark healthcare law and Dodd-Frank.

"We can't put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we've a got a system to fix," Obama said. "And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, it will earn my veto.“

The statement was welcome news to more liberal Democrats, who watched the White House stand down during the lame duck session last month, when Republicans inserted language easing a Dodd-Frank swaps provision into a must-pass spending bill. Obama signed the measure into law, despite vocal opposition from progressives in the House and Senate.

But the president has already started to take a harder line against further changes to Dodd-Frank in the wake of that battle. Before Tuesday's speech, Obama had vowed to veto legislation, which passed the House earlier this month, delaying a portion of the Volcker Rule involving the sale of collateralized loan obligations 2019.

His comments on Tuesday night further underscored that shift.

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