ABI Blog Exchange

Our Best in Banking honorees for 2018 share some of the smartest bits of advice and blows from the school of hard knocks that they've received over the years — and who (or what) supplied them.

The federal regulator cited recent “cost savings” and promising projections for costs and revenue next year in announcing the reduction in assessments.

To convince skeptical bankers about the benefits of distributed ledger technology, some suggest it needs to be separated from the volatile digital currency it underlies.

  One of the fears of debtors filing bankruptcy is that the trustee may seek to get back funds the debtor paid for their children's tuition prior to filing the case.  This is usually under 11 U.S.C. 548, asserting that the debtor received no benefit from the transfer of funds to the schools.  The schools are now contesting these actions, and one basis for challenging the trustee's right to recover is whether the school is an initial transferee of such funds, which can be required to refund such money; or a subsequent transferee that takes the funds for value, in good faith, and without knowledge of the voidability of the transfer, which may not be required to refund such transfers.  11 U.S.C. §550(b)(1).  This issue is discussed in some depth in Pergament v. Brooklyn Law Sch., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200559, Case #1:18-CV-2204, (E.D. N.Y., 27 November 2018).  This decision involved an appeal from a bankruptcy court order denying the trustee's request to recover tuition paid by a debtor for his children from the three institutes of higher learning, on the basis that the schools were protected from having to refund the funds as being subsequent transferees for value in good faith.

Banks have criticized the new accounting standard, but it would likely soften future bubbles and reduce subsequent credit crunches by requiring that reserves be held upfront when loans are made.

The new CEO is trapped in the same feedback loop of negative news, rising funding costs and declining revenue that foiled his predecessor.

The Treasury Department announced the initiative just as the leaders of the three countries signed a multilateral trade pact to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The North Carolina lawmaker had been considered for a potentially bigger House leadership position if Republicans had held on to their majority.

Car lenders who make new car loans with an underwater trade-in will face the music in Chapter 13.