Hobson’s Choice is defined as “a choice of taking what is available or nothing at all” which is where we feel the Fed is standing at the present moment. The Fed currently holds its benchmark funds rate, which banks charge each other for short-term lending, is at 4.58% today compared to 0.33% last year and is lower than the long-term average of 4.60%. We are in this position because of tremendous volatility in the Financial Markets since last week with the failure of three medium sized US banks viz. Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank along with well publicized
Category: Banking Regulations
Wells Fargo Fake Account Scandal – Lessons for Financial Institution Leadership and Banking Regulators
Published earlier in Oct 2016 in my earlier Blog – Ported here in Aug 2017: As we have all read in the news recently, Wells Fargo & Co is currently embroiled in a fake accounts creation scandal. It is understood that this was a multiyear “scam” where millions of unrequested, fee-generating customer accounts were unearthed at Wells Fargo (WFC), a bank traditionally considered “old school” and “conservative”. The alleged misconduct was revealed when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Los Angeles City Attorney and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) fined the bank $185 million, alleging that more