In spite of efforts to encourage more de novo bank applications, only seven new banks were chartered last year. In fact, to demonstrate how difficult the environment is… of the 70 banks that have been opened in the past ten…
Government Shutdown Trumps Economic Gains
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book is a survey of opinions. While qualitative in nature, those surveyed do tend to have their fingers on the pulse of their part of the country. The latest Beige Book was based on information collected…
Consumer Debt: the Good, the Bad and the Scary
We promised last week that we would be paying close attention to consumer debt this year, and what better time to begin. The Federal Reserve conveniently just released its Consumer Credit statistics report for last November. This latest release shows…
2018: The Highlights and the Lowlights
Taking a look back at the year that just ended can sometimes give us a glimpse at what’s to come. We’re not sure that’s a good thing this time around but as they say, “forewarned is forearmed”. The first warnings…