Loan Think

Having a loan officer on-hand at closing boosts member satisfaction and improves CUs' relationships with real estate agents and title companies.

As part of the broad regulatory review, the Treasury secretary should consider a blue-ribbon panel to look at modernizing policies on everything from consumer disclosures to wealth accumulation.

President Trump’s proposed cuts to programs providing credit options for low-income and underserved communities would have a particularly negative effect in states that voted for him.

Banks are losing wealthier underbanked customers to alternative lenders — an undercurrent that is halting progress in expanding credit access for all.

Bankers hope that new tax policy will respect the role of tax-assisted community development programs in encouraging business investment in distressed areas.

Customer outreach is far from the actual core function of bank marketers: producing bottom-line results.

The current partisan war over the Dodd-Frank Act is just one dispute in a broader ideological divide about the government’s role in industry.

Under the Trump administration, the challenge for the industry is to find the proper balance between supporting post-financial crisis regulations that have worked well and campaigning for reform efforts that have been ineffective.

With the new administration and eventual new leadership of the regulatory agencies, banks’ calculus that agreeing to consent orders is usually the right course is potentially changing.

As banking leaders gain a more substantial policymaking role, they will have a greater impact if they stake out a clear position in favor of regulations that protect investors and depositors.