Bair and Goodhart: Bank failures are looming. Let’s make sure executives have skin in the game

Sheila Bair and Charles Goodhart penned an opinion piece in The Washington Post – “Bank failures are looming. Let’s make sure executives have skin in the game.” Key themes are:

  • Serious challenges remain for the U.S. banking system.
  • Lessons from three high-profile regional bank failures have been forgotten.
  • Accountability for executives of failed banks should increase. Passage of the Recoup Act would help.

The Washington Post piece is at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/20/sheila-bair-pass-banking-reform-accounability/

For more on lessons from regional bank failures, please find papers where Sheila (Chair) and Charles contributed in their role as CFS Advisory Board members.

“Supervision and Regulation after Silicon Valley Bank”
www.CenterforFinancialStability.org/research/CFSRegPaper101623.pdf
“The Role of Monetary and Fiscal Policies in Recent Bank Failures”
www.CenterforFinancialStability.org/research/CFSMonPaper101623.pdf

FT: “Learning British Financial Stability Lessons. Seriously!”

Today, the Financial Times‘ Robin Wigglesworth released a well-researched article “Learning British Financial Stability Lessons.  Seriously!” – which covered CFS reports – https://on.ft.com/3ZZ8Rpc

CFS will put a finer point on on aspects of the reports in two upcoming events.

Please take a look at this article and our papers, which can be found on CFS’ website- www.CenterforFinancialStability.org.

CFS Releases New Reports on Banking Stress and Monetary Policy

A group of senior advisors to the Center for Financial Stability – Sheila Bair (Chair), Joyce Chang, Charles Goodhart, Lawrence Goodman, Barbara Novick, and Richard Sandor – undertook an assessment of the root causes of recent bank failures.

The work was done with a keen eye on present and future financial system stresses.  For instance, bond market losses continue; bank earnings remain under pressure; cumulative Fed rate hikes are now 525 basis points; the fiscal deficit is now $600 billion deeper in the red than last year; and bank stocks remain at or near post crisis lows.

The group represents a wide array of backgrounds in government, academia, and industry and a full range of policy views. While there were differences of opinions on some specific proposals, there was also strong consensus on the main drivers of the failures and key issues related to proffered reforms.

Later in the week, Randal Quarles (CFS Advisory Board Chair) will lead panel discussions with the authors on the reports’ findings.

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view
“The Role of Monetary and Fiscal Policies in Recent Bank Failures”
www.CenterforFinancialStability.org/research/CFSMonPaper101623.pdf

“Supervision and Regulation after Silicon Valley Bank”
www.CenterforFinancialStability.org/research/CFSRegPaper101623.pdf

Extinguished Consumer Surpluses: CFS money supply measures

Wall Street Journal reporter, Rachel Louise Ensign, wrote a terrific piece on the consumer yesterday – “Americans Finally Start to Feel the Sting from the Fed’s Rate Hikes.”  The story highlights how:

– “Consumers… are discovering that, because of the Federal Reserve’s rate increases, their money gets them a lot less than it would have a few years ago.”

– “Consumers are carrying much higher [credit card] balances than they were two years ago.”

Interestingly, CFS Divisia M2 reveals another core issue regarding the sting from higher rates and tighter policy.  Swollen consumer surpluses in the aftermath of the essential post-Covid fiscal and monetary response are now extinguished.

To view “Extinguished Consumer Saving Balances – CFS Divisia M2, actual and predicted
www.CenterforFinancialStability.org/research/Extinguished_Balances_20230927.pdf

Note: The CFS Divisia M2 measure of consumer liquidity includes currency, demand deposits, other liquid deposits, and retail money market funds.

The Federal Reserve needs to stay put on rates

Today, the Financial Times published Sheila Bair’s Opinion piece noting that:

– The Fed should feel vindicated in its decision to pause rate rises at its policy-setting meeting last month.  Although it seems poised to raise them again, the Fed should stay put.

– If the Fed does raise rates again, it could temper the impact by only raising rates on bank reserves, while leaving the rate it pays to money market funds and other non-bank financial intermediaries where it is.

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view the full article:
https://on.ft.com/3QatT1l

Sheila Bair is a former chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a senior fellow and Advisory Board member at the Center for Financial Stability.

Markets and Volatile Monetary Policy: Empirical Lessons from Banking Instability

Ahead of the upcoming FOMC meeting, the Fed is dealing with another problem of its own creation. The stock market is elevated and the economy and inflation are on the descent.

Monetary policy meaningfully contributed to the distress at the Silicon Valley Bank and recent swings in financial markets.

“Markets and Volatile Monetary Policy: Empirical Lessons from Banking Instability” offers a solution for officials and an opportunity for investors to profit.

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view the full article:
https://centerforfinancialstability.org/research/Markets_Volatile_Monetary_061123.pdf

Last week, we released “A Story of Money, Inflation, and the CFS.”

A Story of Money, Inflation, and the CFS

At the Center for Financial Stability (CFS), we see the world differently. We see the world through monetary goggles – not at the exclusion of other variables, but from a different perspective.

Since 1) inflation proved to not be transitory after the post-pandemic fiscal and monetary response and 2) inflation remained negligible after the big money supply increases in 2009 to 2010, our perspective is essential for:

  • Officials to strengthen the financial system while more effectively promoting growth and
  • Investors to safeguard assets, manage financial institutions, or seek profits.

We look forward to any comments you might have.

Next week, CFS will release a paper on “Empirical Lessons for the Fed from Banking Instability.”

To view the full article:
https://www.centerforfinancialstability.org/research/Money_Story_060623.pdf

FT: Bair on Protecting Smaller Banks from Investor Nerves

Today, the Financial Times published Sheila Bair’s Opinion piece “Congress must act to protect smaller banks from investor nerves. Measures to shield operational business accounts, introduced during Covid, should be triggered urgently.”

While she does not believe that universal coverage for all accounts is the answer, she does advocate for using the Transaction Account Guarantee (or TAG programme). “To promote banking competition and mitigate concentrations of power, we need to help them protect their core business accounts. Congress needs to reinstate TAG.”

We look forward to any comments you might have.

To view the full article:
https://www.ft.com/content/caae5e89-4f6f-4ec8-94c7-0c15ed4592fa

Sheila Bair is a former chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a senior fellow and Advisory Board member at the Center for Financial Stability.

US regulators are setting a dangerous precedent on Silicon Valley Bank

Former FDIC Chair and CFS senior fellow Sheila Bair penned “US regulators are setting a dangerous precedent on Silicon Valley Bank” in the Financial Times (FT).  The piece covers:

– Systemic risk determination,
– Use of FDIC insurance,
– Fed policy.

To view the piece:
https://www.ft.com/content/b860ebb6-f202-4ec6-a80c-8b1527c949f4

Falling Money and the Fed

CFS Divisia M4 (DM4) declined by the 14th largest amount on record since 1968.

The implication is that inflation and growth are slowing more dramatically than many believe.

Over years and cycles, our data and analytics offer paths for investors to profit and officials to conduct policy in a way to limit inflation and promote growth in a less volatile financial environment.

A message on markets, analytics and policy implications will follow next week.

View “Falling Money and the Fed” at
https://centerforfinancialstability.org/research/Falling_Money_013123.pdf