What Low Income Housing Tax Credits has to offer your bank
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) offer an opportunity for a bank to obtain federal income tax credits while fulfilling obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act. The spring 2006 issue of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency publication, Community Developments, has several articles on the use and management of LIHTCs. Visit www.occ.gov/cdd/spring06/investinginIowincome.htm for more information.
- A Journal of Management Studies article “Proposing and Testing an Intellectual Capital-Based View of the Firm” looks at the impact of human, organizational and social capital on financial performance. They conclude the influence these factors have on financial performance is dependent on the value of the other components.
- According to The Economist, regulatory policies that boost private-sector monitoring of banks tend to make banking systems more developed, banks more efficient and crises less likely. The more generous deposit insurance is, the higher the probability a banking crisis will occur. These and other findings are contained in a new book titled, Rethinking Bank Regulation: Till Angels Govern by James Barth, Gerard Caprio and Ross Levine.
- Operational risk management is emerging as a regulatory focus, especially as it relates to large banks — in particular, those that will be subject to Basel II when it’s adopted. Operational risk is defined as the threat of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. This definition includes legal risk, but excludes strategic and reputational risk.
- “Please leave a message”: Some bankers still refuse to use voice mail. Not unlike the childhood game “telephone,” these callers not only rely on someone else to relay their message, they’re expecting their communiqué to be passed on accurately. Many of these banks have resisted offering transaction capabilities via their Web sites because electronic transactions aren’t personal. Is this something your bank would define as “good service”? And when does convenience become more important than personal interaction? Of course, your customers and prospects are the only people who can really make that distinction.
