The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, on Monday, February 19, major banks and U.S. Postal Service offices will be closed in observance of George Washington’s birthday, commonly referred to as Presidents Day.
Continue reading Banks and Post Office Closed on Presidents Day
file photo by Boyd Loving
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Ridgewood NJ, bank stocks continue to face a crisis of confidence , on Tuesday after Moody’s Investors Service announced it had downgraded 10 small and midsize American lenders, and that it may do the same with a handful of major firms. Higher funding costs, potential regulatory capital weaknesses and rising risks tied to commercial real estate are among the strains that prompted a review, Moody’s said.
Continue reading Moody’s Downgrades Ratings of 10 U.S. Banks
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Continue reading the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce rolls out the Ridgewood Chamber Guide 2022
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Ridgewood NJ, After JPMorgan Chase & Co., CEO Jamie Dimon slammed ‘dangerous’ bitcoin as ‘decentralized Ponzi scheme’. The No. 1 U.S. bank and a charter member of Wall Street’s financial establishment, has gone DeFi. . JPMorgan’s Onyx unit recently executed live foreign exchange swaps of tokenized Japanese Yen and Singapore Dollars. The swaps were made as part of Project Guardian, an initiative backed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore that aims to explore DeFi applications in wholesale funding markets. Project Guardian is currently deployed on Polygon, but it will eventually be rolled out to other blockchain networks. It uses a modified version of Aave Arc.
Continue reading Despite CEO Calling Bitcoin a ‘decentralized Ponzi scheme’ JPMorgan Goes Crypto
Justin Jennings, the new Executive Vice President, Operations Officer of Columbia Bank. Image Courtesy of Columbia Bank.
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Fair Lawn NJ , Columbia Bank is pleased to welcome Justin Jennings, the new Executive Vice President, Operations Officer, effective immediately. Jennings, who replaces Brian Murphy upon his retirement in April 2022, is responsible for the Operations division including Card Services, Deposit Operations, Loan Servicing and the Customer Service Center.
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RIDGEWOOD & GLEN ROCK NJ , Blue Foundry Bank, a financial institution that offers a full service, crafted banking experience, announced the opening of two reimagined branches. The new Ridgewood branch is located at 235 East Ridgewood Avenue and the recently renovated Glen Rock branch is located at 217 Rock Road. The transformed branch locations, both designed by DMR Architects, reflect the bank’s reinvention and commitment to building relationships with like-minded, hardworking individuals in the communities it serves.
Continue reading Blue Foundry Bank Opens Two Reimagined Branch Locations in Ridgewood and Glen Rock
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Ridgewood NJ, Blue Foundry Bank is opening in Ridgewood. Please join them for their ribbon cutting opening of their new state of the art branch located in Ridgewood. It will take place on June 22nd from 5pm-7pm at 235 East Ridgewood Avenue. Please RSVP using the information on the attached flyer. Very exciting!(see photo)
Improving the operations in your bank doesn’t have to involve a complete revamp of your fundamental processes. Improving your bank operation starts from the minor everyday changes; improving on these minute ones would have spillover effects on the overall performance of the bank system.
Continue reading Effective Tips That Will Help Any Bank Improve Their Operations
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Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Bankers Association is confident in the banking system and the resiliency of the economy. Customer service and safety and soundness are the twin pillars of the banking system. New Jersey’s banks are safe and sound and ready to help our customers during this trying time.
Customers faced with distress should contact their bank if they have concerns or are experiencing a financial hardship due to the health crisis caused by coronavirus, known as COVID-19. Banks in New Jersey are working with their customers to develop solutions that best meet each individual’s needs. “Our banks are well positioned to assist our customers during this trying time,” said John E. McWeeney, Jr, President and CEO of NJBankers.
Continue reading New Jersey Banks Help Customers Due to Coronavirus Pandemic
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NEWARK NJ, A New York man today admitted participating in a scheme that used secret card-reading devices and pinhole cameras on various New Jersey bank locations to steal at least $428,581, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Bogdan Rusu, 39, of Queens, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Rusu and others sought to defraud financial institutions and their customers by illegally obtaining customer account information, including account numbers and personal identification numbers. Rusu admitted installing equipment on ATMs at banks in New Jersey. Eleven other defendants charged in this scheme have pleaded guilty.
Continue reading Skimmers Net $428,581 from Various New Jersey bank locations
June 9,2017
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Washington DC, The House on Thursday passed the Financial CHOICE Act, legislation to overhaul and replace the failed Dodd-Frank Act that has contributed to the worst economic recovery of the last 70 years.“Every promise of Dodd-Frank has been broken,” said Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), as he read letters from Americans about how they were declined home, automobile and small business loans due to Dodd-Frank’s burdensome regulations. “Fortunately there is a better, smarter way. It’s called the Financial CHOICE Act. It stands for economic growth for all, but bank bailouts for none. We will end bank bailouts once and for all. We will replace bailouts with bankruptcy. We will replace economic stagnation with a growing, healthy economy,” he said.
“We will make sure there is needed regulatory relief for our small banks and credit unions, because it’s our small banks and credit unions that lend to our small businesses that are the jobs engine of our economy and make sure the American dream is not a pipe dream,” said Chairman Hensarling.
CHOICE, which stands for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs, has received strong support from community banks and credit unions. Large financial institutions did not offer their support for the Financial CHOICE Act. Instead, Wall Street CEOs have publicly said they do not support repealing Dodd-Frank.
The Congressional Budget Office reports the Financial CHOICE Act would reduce the deficit by $33.6 billion over 10 years and that the bill’s regulatory relief would benefit community banks and credit unions. The nation’s largest banks would be unlikely to raise enough capital to meet the bill’s requirement for substantial regulatory relief, the CBO reported.
FINANCIAL CHOICE ACT AT A GLANCE:
BANKRUPTCY, NOT BAILOUTS
No more bailouts: that’s at the core of the Financial CHOICE Act. With changes to the bankruptcy code, large financial firms can fail without disrupting the entire economy or forcing hardworking taxpayers to pay for more bailouts.
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WALL STREET AND WASHINGTON
The Financial CHOICE Act includes the toughest penalties in history for those who commit financial fraud and insider trading. Holding Wall Street accountable with the toughest penalties in history will deter corporate wrongdoing and better protect consumers. At the same time the Financial CHOICE Act holds Wall Street accountable, it also holds Washington accountable. Tougher accountability for Wall Street and Washington will protect the integrity of our markets so they benefit ordinary Americans who are working, saving and investing.
STRONGLY CAPITALIZED BANKS
Dodd-Frank’s one-size-fits-all regulations treat all financial institutions the same, regardless of their size. That makes no sense and hurts smaller, hometown banks and credit unions that did nothing to cause the last financial crisis.
The Financial CHOICE Act is based on two important principles: First, all banks need to be well-capitalized and, second, community banks and credit unions deserve relief from the crushing burden of over-regulation. Under the Financial CHOICE Act, banks and credit unions will qualify for regulatory relief if they elect to maintain enough capital to ensure that if they get in trouble, taxpayers won’t be forced to bail them out. Ninety-eight percent of the financial institutions that met the Financial CHOICE Act’s requirements for being well-capitalized did not fail during the financial crisis. Of the miniscule percentage that did fail, none posed a systemic risk.
EMPOWER AMERICANS
The Financial CHOICE Act grows our economy from Main Street up. Dodd-Frank tries to control the economy from Washington down. The Financial CHOICE Act will help get credit and capital into the hands of working men and women to fuel their economic growth.
Ridgewood NJ, After President Trump today said Congress should make financial regulatory reform a priority to “help striving Americans get the credit they need to realize their dreams” and Vice President Pence said “dismantling Dodd-Frank” is a top legislative priority for the Trump Administration, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following statement:
“No bureaucrat in Washington should be able to tell hardworking Americans what kind of credit card, bank account, mortgage or retirement advice they can have, but that’s exactly what Dodd-Frank does. As the President and Vice President have said, Dodd-Frank makes it harder for people to get loans to buy a home or start a small business. Consumers are paying more in fees and are losing benefits and access to services they want and need. Instead of ending ‘too big to fail,’ Dodd-Frank institutionalizes bailouts for big banks. Dodd-Frank’s regulations give Wall Street a competitive advantage over community banks and credit unions. In fact, since Dodd-Frank became law the big banks have gotten bigger and the small banks are fewer.
“Fulfilling the Trump Administration’s pledge to dismantle Dodd-Frank this year is essential to leveling the playing field, building a healthy economy and offering every American greater opportunities to achieve financial independence.
“Republicans on the Financial Services Committee are eager to work with the President and his administration to unclog the arteries of our financial system so the lifeblood of capital can flow more freely and create jobs. The Financial CHOICE Act, our bold and forward looking plan, replaces Dodd-Frank with new policies to protect consumers by holding Wall Street and Washington accountable, end bailouts and unleash America’s economic potential.
“Replacing the Dodd-Frank mistake is necessary if we ever hope to enjoy a healthy economy and make America great again.”
pic J.P. Morgan’s Mr. Dimon
Bankers admit they love the guaranteed bailouts, lack of competition and regulated margins of Dodd-Frank
December 10, 2016
Ridgewood NJ, Big banks have an unexpected message for President-elect Donald Trump: Don’t trash the Dodd-Frank Act.“We’re not asking for wholesale throwing out Dodd-Frank,” J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. chief James Dimon said at a financial-services conference this week where he and other big-bank executives spoke, often addressing potential regulatory changes for the first time since the election.
During his presidential campaign, Republican Donald Trump said he would “get rid of” Dodd-Frank — the sweeping legislation passed in 2010 to address problems underlying the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Dodd-Frank a 2200 page monstrosity , was passed by congress like Obamacare without anyone reading the legislation , that is except for former NJ Congressmen Scott Garrett.
Dodd-Frank turned banks into utilities and did nothing to solve the ills that caused the banking crisis in 2008 ,it basically institutionalized the bad behavior that created the problem, put the bad debt in suspended animation and put taxpayers on the hook with its “too big to fail” provisions. Too big to fail also implies the corollary to big to really succeed.
Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan called “too big to fail” legislation a “moral hazard” , giving bankers the excuse to engage in activities that would otherwise risk their livelihoods, feeling confident in ever larger government ie taxpayer bailouts.
The Trump team has talked about dismantling the law, although it has yet to state clearly whether this would involve a repeal of Dodd-Frank. Bank stocks have soared about 20% since the election, partly on the belief President-elect Donald Trump in some way will lighten banks’ regulatory load.
While banks favor a paring back of regulation, they tend to think in practical terms, rather than ideologically. And their core message seems to be: Make regulation simpler and less costly but don’t return banking to the Wild West days that preceded the financial crisis.
In many ways that is understandable. Banks have spent half a dozen years and hundreds of millions of dollars to adapt to the new landscape. This has caused them to exit businesses such as proprietary trading, rejig their corporate structures to make them safer and focus more on clients’ needs. While tearing up Dodd-Frank would seem to unshackle banks, starting with a new regulatory playbook would upend their new business models and divert management.
One of the biggest concerns for banks is that things don’t get worse. “The first thing I would ask for is nothing new, no new rules,” Citigroup Inc. finance chief John Gerspach said at the conference. “If you haven’t figured out yet how all the existing rules work together, don’t put on anything else.”
Banks acknowledge benefits to the new rules, noting they have helped improve the way firms manage risks and view their businesses. U.S. bankers have also said that having been forced to hold more capital, and build it quickly after the financial crisis, made their firms far stronger than troubled European peers.
So what would the big banks like to see changed?
Stress Tests—These annual exercises conducted by the Federal Reserve have become hugely important because they govern the amount of capital banks can return to shareholders, either through buybacks or dividends.
Banks want these to be based more on objective criteria and they want to have more of a view into the testing process and the Fed’s decision-making. And they should take less time and money to comply with, bankers say.
Bill Demchak, CEO of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., said his bank could theoretically get all the benefits of the stress-testing process with “60% of the effort.” He said that to comply with the tests, “you bring the place to a grinding halt once a year.”
The Volcker Rule— Banks say they aren’t eager to get back into the business of speculating on market moves using their own balance sheets. But they want the process around the Volcker Rule to be less burdensome and administered by fewer than five agencies.
Changes in this area could “probably make it easier to make markets” and improve liquidity, likely benefiting investors and other issuers, said Mr. Dimon.
“You have active market-marking in lumber, rebar, chicken, pork, cotton; we need it in financial instruments, it’s not different,” he said. “I do think a little more liquidity could be good.”
Mr. Gerspach said Citigroup would like less paperwork. “We don’t want to do proprietary trading,” he said. “But I also would love to work with regulators to lessen the burden of proving that we’re not engaging in proprietary trading.”
Capital and Liquidity—Banks say there are so many new rules relating to so many areas of their balance sheets that they too often run the risk of working against each other. And it isn’t clear when enough capital really is enough.
Wells Fargo chief Timothy Sloan cited differences between rules about how much capital a bank must hold and the amount of liquid assets a firm has to keep on hand. The intersections of these rules, bankers argue, hampers lending.
Bankers would also like more clarity around how much capital is enough for banks. Regulators have applied various capital surcharges to the biggest banks and these can change as regulations evolve.
“It’s getting certainty around the ability to have access to your capital return once you’ve met all the hurdles and whether those hurdles move up or down because of various people’s point of view,” said Bank of America Corp. chief Brian Moynihan.
J.P. Morgan’s Mr. Dimon said that regulators’ authority should be “cut back a little bit. It should be more prescriptive in exactly what they’re trying to accomplish.”
For all that, bankers are taking a wait-and-see stance before making any big changes to their businesses. “I think the difference going into 2017 is that we do have hope,” Citigroup’s Mr. Gerspach said. “But…we can’t build a plan on hope.”
https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/2016/12/banks-to-donald-trump-dont-kill-dodd.html
May 7,2016
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Ridgewood NJ, Apparently, the heist couldn’t have been any simpler if it had been drawn up in the lunch line at an elementary school cafeteria.
In February, Bangladesh’s central bank saw $81 million disappear out a virtual window. Now it’s been revealed that, although the computer hackers used custom-made malware, they probably didn’t need to work up a cyber sweat while pulling off their long-distance theft. The bank had no firewalls to defend against intruders and its computers were linked to global-financial networks through second-hand routers that cost $10.
“It’s stunning that a major institution would leave itself so defenseless in this day and age when everyone should know that cyber criminals are waiting for you to let your guard down,” says Gary S. Miliefsky, CEO of SnoopWall (www.snoopwall.com), a company that specializes in cyber security.
But he says the episode can serve as a cautionary tale for other banks and any businesses that want to protect themselves against today’s cyber versions of Bonnie and Clyde.
“Most companies have some vulnerability and it doesn’t take a sophisticated attack to cause a security breach,” Miliefsky says. “Often on the hackers’ end of things, it just takes patience.”
For example, he says, a cyber criminal can gain access by sending a company an email with an attachment called a Remote Access Trojan, or RAT, that looks like a normal file. All it takes is for an unsuspecting employee to open that file and, voila, security is compromised.
That’s bad for companies, of course, but it’s also bad for consumers, whose bank account, credit card and other private information is at risk.
Miliefsky says it’s important to go on the offensive. Among his recommendations:
• Employers need to train their staffs. Those employees sitting at their computers each day are a company’s first line of defense. An errant click on the wrong email is like unlocking the front door, so employees should be made aware of the dangers and told what do about suspicious email.
• Companies should routinely update their defenses. Outdated technology and outdated security software make a company’s computers vulnerable to attack. It’s important that businesses periodically review their IT operations to make sure what worked last year still provides the needed security.
• Consumers must take their own safety measures. It would be nice to expect banks and retailers to protect consumer information, but the average person can’t count on that. Miliefsky suggests consumers take personal security measures such as frequently changing passwords and deleting any phone apps they don’t use. Many apps contain malware that can spy on you.
“Most people log onto the internet every day without much thought about how susceptible they are to being hacked,” Miliefsky says. “It takes vigilance to protect yourself against cyber criminals who are working hard to figure their way around security measures.”
About Gary S. Miliefsky
Gary S. Miliefsky is founder of SnoopWall Inc. (www.snoopwall.com), a cutting edge counter-intelligence technology company offering free consumer-based software to secure personal data on cell-phones and tablets, while generating revenues helping banks and government agencies secure their networks. He has been active in the INFOSEC arena, as the Executive Producer of Cyber Defense Magazine and a regular contributor to Hakin9 Magazine.
