Latest Commentary

Morgan Stanley: The big winner in Facebook news

February 1, 2012 | By Jim Kim

There was some outlier talk before Facebook filed its IPO registration papers that perhaps it would take a page from Google and seek an unconventional IPO in some respects. Some thought the company...

Bank of America board faces CEO dilemma

January 26, 2012 | By Jim Kim

If there’s one bank CEO who’s on the hot seat, it’s Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, who won the job in January 2010 after an unusually grueling and public search. Since...

Study shows ETFs enhance correlation

January 20, 2012 | By Jim Kim

So how bad was the investment climate from a correlation perspective the last few years? Pretty bad, according to a new study from Factors Advisors. Correlations among various asset classes...

Banks poised to return capital

January 8, 2012 | By Jim Kim

As 2011 ended, we unfortunately grew accustomed to a steady stream of bad news about the banking industry. But in reality, this was primarily a big bank phenomenon. By one measure, the rest of the

Happy Holidays! See you in the new year

December 18, 2011 | By Jim Kim

It's hard to believe that the year is already ending--2011 turned out to be even more eventful than we imagined. To be sure, the "double dip" in the industry has been painful for many, and even in

Credit card interchange fees loom as big revenue source

December 7, 2011 | By Jim Kim

The bank industry continues to chafe under the Durbin Amendment, leading to lots of angst as to how the lost swipe fees will be offset. Especially at this time of year, perhaps the industry should

E-book: A Holistic Approach to Fraud Management

December 4, 2011 | By Jim Kim

Banks face a punishing cyber security environment, one that's not going to change anytime soon. We get into security and fraud prevention issues often over on FierceFinanceIT and FierceComplianceIT.

Holiday job environment stings for would-be bankers

November 25, 2011 | By Jim Kim

The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. Wall Street has shown itself to be on a boom bust cycle for decades. There have always been fantastic bull markets that captured the

As Chase kills two more fees, banks fight for customers

November 18, 2011 | By Jim Kim

Are the largest banks spooked by the public backlash against Bank of America's debit card fee foray, the fallout of which has engulfed them all? To be sure, we've seen banks beat a fast retreat from

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley ponder mark-to-market accounting

November 11, 2011 | By Jim Kim

Mark-to-market accounting is back in the news. The issue hasn't been this hot since the aftermath of the financial crisis back in 2008 and 2009, when banks were battling for survival. At the time,