The implication that bank employee lenders are less capable because they don't have "tough" professional skill requirements isn't true.

As a commercial finance consultant and a former commercial banker, it is very clear to me that passage of H.R. 5297 is essential to developing any meaningful level of employment growth.

Transferring credit risk to insurance companies, hedge funds and anyone else who wants it will free the banking system as a whole from dependence on shaky formulas that no one fully trusts.

The scoop by American Banker last week that Bank of America is charging some new customers a fee for paper statements generated a torrent of comments across the blogosphere

With commercial real estate values and rents down 30% to 40% nationwide, across most sectors and metro markets alike, real estate investors — and the banks that lend to them — have already been hit by commercial real estate market’s tsunami. But many believe the worst is yet to come.

As issuers, we should "flip the switch" for a couple of days so that our customers have to write checks. Then merchants might remember what interchange fees are worth.

There's nothing quite like a interchange to stir the pot, and the Durbin Amendment has been a hot-button issue of the moment for our readers.

Green Dot's application to purchase Bonneville Bank should merit attention considering that Wal-Mart is both a shareholder and the largest business partner of the prepaid card company.

Why can't saving money be fun and exciting? When I think of deposit products, I start to yawn. Don't get me wrong, savings accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and prepaid debit cards with a savings pocket are all important products for the unbanked and underbanked. But, let's face it, they are boring.

Last month, San Francisco mayor Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a new initiative that would provide a college savings account for every kindergartener entering San Francisco's public school program. EARN, a California non-profit that promotes wealth creation among low-income families, has pledged to match the first $100 of a family's savings in each account.

The underbanked have traditionally been under-served when facing short-term cash flow crunches. The choices are not just limited — they're often prohibitively expensive and inconvenient. APRs at payday loan centers can easily initiate an unstoppable debt spiral for many consumers.

As we've developed GoalMine, our investing platform for the underserved, one of the biggest concerns we've heard from other people is risk. Why, they want to know, would we encourage the underserved to put their money in mutual funds? Aren't we worried they could lose money?

William Isaac, who led the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. from 1981 to 1985, thinks the panic that gripped financial markets in 2008 and the ensuing recession did not have to happen and that the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was sold to Congress and the public as essential to calm the markets, actually did more harm than good.

Not unlike the “cash for gold” peddlers on late-night television who encourage consumers to hock that old pendant of Great Grandma Sue’s, Sears Holdings Corp. is helping customers exchange their old jewelry for cash, so they can buy nice shiny new things in its stores.

The merchant lobby has long positioned interchange fees as a small-business issue, but Visa Chairman and Chief Executive Joseph Saunders offered a powerful counter-narrative: "It's a victory for Wal–Mart" he said during an investor presentation.