Bank ratings should not be confidential

Here’s an idea for improving the regulation of banks: Treat them more like restaurants.

One of the great things about eating out in New York, where I work, is that you can go to the local health department’s website and get inspection information for each of the city’s 24,000 restaurants.

So, for example, if you want to look up whether A+ Thai Place in Manhattan had rats during its last inspection, you can. (It did). Eateries also must display clearly the grade they got (A+ Thai received a “C”) so every customer who walks in can see.