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The Justice Department, along with federal and state partners, announced this week a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan - the largest settlement with a single entity in American history.   This settlement brings to a resolution the federal and state civil claims arising out of the packaging, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) by JPMorgan, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual prior to Jan. 1, 2009. I know that there are many politicians who are happy that the Justice Department settled with JP Morgan.    I am disappointed, though, with all the statements in the press release from the various District Attorneys who are claiming victory and that justice has finally been done.   It is ridiculous and it is politics as usual.   Am I alone here?   Have we lost our minds as a country?   How is this a day of celebration?   The fact that this settlement represents the largest settlement with a single entity in American history is irrelevant when

Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Delivers remarks at Money Laundering Enforcement Conference in Washington, D.C., illustrates just how serious the problem is in the banking and financial sector of this country. What he doesn't address is the size of these financial organizations and how the very size of these financial institutions alone makes government supervision and enforcement very difficult. The financial institutions themselves are inefficient to manage to all the compliance issue. They lack the human resources but not the financial resources because they do not value compliance. They despise compliance and invest in looking for every opportunity to work around it. It's the same issue with CRA. They have the resources to hire CRA loan officers but are not willing to hire loan officers who need salaries to do the difficult and time consuming work originate and close a CRA loan. Break up the Big Five. They are too big and clearly out of control. Congress needs to act

A few days ago, Vice Chair Janet L. Yellen made a very telling statement at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.  Overall, she is saying all the right things and will probably be confirmed, but I am bothered some by her remarks regarding bank stress testing.  Mrs. Yellen actually believes that the bank stress tests (with their minimum requirement of tier 1 capital) are sufficient to avoid or weather another financial disaster. Given the general consensus over the last two years about the danger of having our banks be “too big to fail,” it is both surprising and disappointing that the current stress tests being suggested would allow our banking system to remain more or less intact; meaning, too big to fail.  Is no one willing to address this elephant in the halls of Congress?  If five banks controlling 80% of the market does not constitute a “too big to fail” situation, I’m not sure what would.  It seems that our political

At present, there are several legislations being proposed in both houses of Congress that will greatly affect the ability of potential buyers to achieve their dream of owning a home.  Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners (PATH) Act My position:  Against H.R. 2767, which is more commonly known as the PATH Act, was introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX).  After a July 23 rd hearing, the bill, not surprisingly, passed through with the aide of an almost party-line vote of 30-27 (30 Republicans voted “yes,” 25 Democrats and 2 Republicans voted “no”).   With its 2 major goals of 1) eliminating housing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and 2) restructuring and imposing limits on the FHA Mortgage Insurance Program, the PATH Act aims to enact a comprehensive restructuring of US mortgage markets.  Sadly, the desired comprehensive restructuring would do much to prevent credit-worthy and responsible families from pu