EU’s new focus on banking union is a political minefield but a financial imperative to stave off further crises
Banking
Viewpoint: How Wall Street Rigs the Game
If you watched the recent presidential debates or the Republican and Democratic conventions, you might have gotten the impression that the practices of Wall Street that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression …
Can Companies Like Walmart and Google Provide a Better Banking Experience Than Actual Banks?
It was a busy Monday for banking news, with one big company rolling out a new prepaid card and another behemoth launching a small business loan program. There’s just one thing that makes this a little bit weird: Neither of the …
Why Reform Will Push Money Market Fund Yields Even Lower
Left for dead in August, the effort to reform money market mutual funds is getting a renewed boost. The stable $1 share price may be a casualty. Here’s why reform would push the low yields on these funds even lower.
More Evidence That We’re Getting Hammered With Bank Fees
It’s hard to tell which is piling up faster — the fees bank customers have to pay these days or the research showing just how pervasive these fees are.
Bankrate.com just issued a new survey of checking account fees. (Spoiler …
America to Banks: We’re Just Not That Into You
The number of Americans who have cut the cord with mainstream banking has risen by 821,000 households in just two years, a newly released survey finds. One in 12 households or 8.3% are unbanked, while another roughly 20% are what researchers call “underbanked.” We’re ostensibly well into economic recovery, so why are more of us telling …
Big Banks Are Finally Making It Easier to Compare Checking Account Fees
The median length of checking account disclosures is a mind-numbing 69 pages. But a growing number of banks are now cutting through the clutter and offering shorter, simpler breakdowns of major fees and terms. It’s a big help …
Seriously? Bank Fees Shoot Up Again
Call it account inflation: A new study shows that checking accounts have gotten even more expensive for customers in 2012, and the phrase “free checking” looks to be going the way of the manual typewriter and the cassette tape.
Back to School: How to Vet Student Bank Accounts
If you have ever looked for the perfect bank account for your teen, you know how frustrating the search can be. Linked accounts, transfer limits and fees, ATM fees, overdraft protection and more vary from bank to bank and from account to account. How do you sort through this maze?
Are ‘Safe Accounts’ the Answer to Our Consumer Banking Problems?
So-called Safe Accounts offer extremely low fees and no overdraft penalties. Banks are still experimenting but the early results have been encouraging and a product geared at the unbanked may just right for many others too.
Uh Oh: Bad Customer Service Is Good For Banks
Dick Bove is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. The banking analyst with Rochdale Securities used his most recent research note on Wells Fargo as a soapbox to blast the bank for its lousy customer service. He …
Bank of America Closed a Bunch of ATMs This Year
Almost exactly two years after Bank of America rolled out its “eBanking” checking account that costs nearly $9 a month if the customer wants service from actual human tellers, the bank’s recent quarterly report shows that …