Newsflash - October 10, 2013
Member News
Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
(10-8-13)
BankPlus and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas awarded $20,000 in Partnership Grant Program funds to Dress for Success Metro Jackson, which assists underserved, low-wage earning women in obtaining the proper attire and skills to gain employment. The program helps more than 500 women annually. "BankPlus has done an awesome job working with us," said Pat Chambliss, executive director of Dress for Success Metro Jackson. "They've come out and done seminars for the women we serve, teaching them how to manage their money, set up banking accounts and other financial literacy skills. A lot of our clients are from a disadvantaged background and they were unable to open a checking account or a savings account. Now they feel confident about their situations. I couldn't have asked for a better corporate partner than BankPlus." Dress for Success will use its partnership grant for capacity building, including hiring additional part-time staff for its career center, as well as implementing a health and wellness program.
The Wall Street Journal
(9-27-13)
Carver Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, announced that Lewis Jones III, Kenneth Knuckles and Colvin Grannum have been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Lewis Jones III is managing principal and co-founder of 5 Stone Green Capital. Kenneth Knuckles is the president and chief executive officer of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation. Colvin Grannum is president of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. "Carver is pleased to announce the appointment of three exceptional business leaders to the Board as we work to ensure that Carver remains a strong and trusted resource in the urban communities that we serve," said Robert Holland, Lead Independent Director of Carver. "Their collective experience will be of tremendous value to our Board and management team as we work in concert to guide the Company on the execution of its business strategy going forward."
Of Interest
Washington Post
(10-8-13)
President Obama on Wednesday will nominate Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen to lead the U.S. central bank, officials said. Since the 1990s, Yellen has alternated among jobs at the Fed, the White House and her academic home, the University of California at Berkeley. In 2010, Obama picked her to serve as Fed vice chairman under Bernanke. In that post, she has been a key force pushing the Fed to embrace more-aggressive policies to reduce unemployment. Yellen has also been in charge of a major effort at the Fed for more transparency through clearer communications of the bank’s intentions and thinking. Previously, she has been chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. From 2004 to 2010, Yellen was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, when she warned about looming dangers in the real estate market and participated in the Fed’s crisis response. Yellen, whose academic speciality focused on the labor market, also has worked at the London School of Economics and as a professor at Harvard. Yellen would become the first Democrat to lead the Fed since Paul A. Volcker stepped down in 1987 and the first female chief of any major central bank.
American Banker
(10-7-13)
Crunch time is near for banks that still owe funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Next month, a number of banks will complete their fifth year in the program, triggering a dividend spike to 9% from 5%. Institutions that have struggled are feeling the heat to do something about their TARP balance before that happens. Reliance Bancshares, facing a rate spike on Feb. 14, is balancing the fact that it could probably find cheaper capital with a desire to use any new funds for expansion, says Tom Brouster, the company’s chairman. Other institutions are taking their time to act. “Although 9% is not cheap, it’s not overly expensive compared to other capital that’s out there,” says Blue Valley Ban Corp CFO Mark Fortino. “We have always believed this to be a very good source of capital.” Other banks, including Broadway Financial, have refinanced their TARP shares. In August, Broadway closed on a complicated refinancing of its $15 million in TARP shares, along with other debt. The transactions allowed Broadway to avoid a higher dividend payment, says Wayne-Kent Bradshaw, the $345 million-asset company’s president and chief executive.
Washington Post
(10-5-13)
The government shutdown is the latest in a series of clashes reflecting conflicting attitudes and values held not only by elected officials, but also by politically active, rank-and-file Republicans and Democrats across the country. There is now almost no intersection between the coalition that elected the president and the one that elected the majority in the House. Members of Congress have far less incentive to compromise with a president of another party if they know they are not dependent on that president’s supporters. This polarization has resulted from several changes that have made each party more homogeneous than in earlier eras. First is the realignment of the South, which has become solidly Republican. Second is the decline of the liberal wing of the Republican Party in the Northeast and Midwest. The parties also are more divided racially than before. Nine of every 10 votes Romney received were from white voters, while Obama got 44 percent of his votes from nonwhite voters. Government is likely to remain divided, as Democrats enjoy some advantage in the electoral college competition, while the alignment of congressional districts gives Republicans the upper hand in controlling the House.
Wall Street Journal
(10-4-13)
Timothy Massad, who has overseen the Treasury Department's bank-rescue program for the past three years, will step down as assistant secretary for financial stability, a Treasury official said. Mr. Massad, a longtime corporate lawyer, said in an interview he has no immediate plans beyond finishing out his role at Treasury but, according to sources familiar with the matter, the White House is considering Mr. Massad to succeed Gary Gensler as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Treasury officials credit Mr. Massad, who worked at law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP for 25 years, as integral in the recovery of $405.2 billion of the $421.2 billion in taxpayer funds disbursed through the bailout programs. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Mr. Massad's management of TARP, including his efforts to bring the program to a close, has provided "incredible benefits to the American economy."
American Banker
(10-3-13)
Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jerome Powell said the agency is planning to launch a new supervision program for community banks next year. Powell told community bankers that the central bank recently launched a review of its consumer compliance supervision. Under the new program, consumer compliance examiners will place a greater focus on an individual bank's risk profile, including its "consumer compliance culture and how effectively it identifies and manages consumer compliance risk." The governor also stressed the agency's commitment not to unduly burden smaller-sized institutions. "The Federal Reserve will continue to be alert to the possible unintended consequences of regulatory policies, and we welcome input from community bankers as we develop and implement those policies," said Powell. The governor said the Fed will continue to "assess the effects of new rules" and "to consider whether modifications to rules," or how they are implemented could still meet safety and soundness goals, but perhaps with a "lesser burden on this class of depository institutions."
Jobs
This position in the Division of Research, Markets and Regulations, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) leads the Installment and Liquidity Lending Markets Division. The division functions as the principle source of subject matter expertise within the CFPB on a range of installment credit markets including auto lending, student lending and various liquidity credit markets, including payday lending and auto title lending. The Office monitors and analyzes these markets and shares findings with other arms of the Bureau through periodic reports, informal consultations and fact-based perspectives. The Office develops a view on the CFPB’s policy priorities within each of the markets and collaborates with other areas of the Bureau to implement policy from encouraging voluntary change or promoting consumer education to supporting regulatory change or enforcement actions.