There is an old Wall Street saying that “Bull Markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.” Clearly market volatility has picked up in recent months, as competing sentiments regarding uncertainty over global trade tensions and the potential implications of a chaotic Brexit duel with continued low unemployment…
read article →The Fed meets this week with no expectation of a change in monetary policy. The FOMC meets this week with continued uncertainty over economic data. Last week saw a wealth of data released, much of which was confusing. For example, retail sales were released for January and were reported as having increased by 0.2%. The…
read article →All of the data released only served to call into question the reliability of that data. The question of what to believe was raised again last week with the important release of the February labor data. The unemployment rate dropped by 0.2% to 3.8%. The decline was a function of a decrease of 300,000 in…
read article →A requirement of the “L” component of the CAMELS rating system is for financial institutions to have independent, third-party reviews of their liquidity risk management. An institution’s liquidity management process should ensure that daily funding needs are met and provide coverage for both expected and unexpected deviations from normal operations. Accordingly, an institution should have…
read article →The wealth of data released last week and due out this week could change expectations. The flow of data is beginning to accelerate as the government agencies catch-up after the partial shutdown. Last week the BEA released fourth quarter Real GDP estimates. This report included the advance report scheduled for January and the first revision…
read article →Mutual Institutions in the $500 million asset class nationally and in the Midwest most profitable in 2018. Mutual institutions in the $500 million asset class nationally – comprised of 144 organizations – earned a median return on average assets of 0.74 percent in 2018. This led all other asset classes nationally in that measure of…
read article →The flow of data is beginning to accelerate and it is generally weaker than last year. Economic data is starting to flow as the affected agencies are getting up to speed. There is still some lag. For example, personal income will be released for both December and January but personal spending and the Core PCE…
read article →For most folks in Detroit, they will probably never know that TCF stands for Twin Cities Federal, an old thrift institution with its roots in Minnesota. Or that TCF nearly failed in the mid-‘80s, before being resuscitated and rebuilt into a formidable operation by a disciplined and creative CEO with roots in Michigan’s banking community…
read article →We might have been off not getting any more data than what was released last week. Government agencies which were shut down are now trying to play catch-up with economic data releases. The Commerce Department was one such agency. They released retail sales for December last week, which was one month later than normal. If…
read article →The re-opening of government has allowed some data to begin to be released. We are finally starting to get some important data that had been delayed with the partial government shutdown. Retail sales for December are expected to be released this week for December. This is a month later than it was due. Expectations are…
read article →Essential Concepts in Pricing Loans What’s the best way to ensure you stay in control of your bank’s profitability? The answer: Proper loan and relationship pricing discipline. We analyzed our LoanPricingPRO® customer base to determine if using a pricing model has helped to maintain an edge on the industry. To do this, we looked at…
read article →“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin. To say reviewing technology agreements (core processing and related agreements) is a large part of my job would be an understatement. Not only must I review all agreements at the beginning of any engagement I undertake (either a competitive vendor evaluation or a…
read article →Let us put our five decades of experience to work for you.
Contact Us