ATMs Will Go the Way of the Phone Booth: Comments of the Week

On the prediction that ATMs will remain important as tools for making deposits and converting physical cash into digital money:

"I don't see ATMs becoming an on-ramp to the digital superhighway. ATMs remind me of the now virtually extinct phone booth. They were meant to be a halfway point between the home phone and the office phone, just there for those times when we were between them. Personal mobile devices evaporated the gap, and killed the phone booth. ATMs are also a kind of halfway device where both ends (the branch and the phone) are oozing out and making the ATMs space smaller."

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On whether the underrepresentation of women in high-powered banking positions is indicative of gender discrimination:

"While women comprise over 50% of the financial industry, only 2% of bank CEOs are female. The question isn't whether women are entitled to ascend to these positions but rather why aren't they ascending? I agree with the previous posters in that those with brains and ability should have the opportunity for leadership. I cannot believe, however, that the lack of brains and ability is preventing women from promotions into a bank's C-suite. Their limited representation strongly implies that there are barriers for women to achieve senior-level positions."

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On whether gender makes a difference in the banking industry:

"Gender matters I learned from my male counterparts to ask for what I want, be aggressive and embrace failure. They learned from me to build relationships before you ask for business, to mentor and develop others, and that inside our bank we are one team working together."

Related Article: Does Gender Matter in Banking?

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On the argument that asking the Federal Reserve to serve as both regulator and enforcer poses an inherent conflict of interest:

"The current system is a perfect example of regulatory capture. Wall Street bankers are not afraid of regulation or prosecution from their close friends and protectors at the Fed. Until they feel fear, fear of jail, fear of personal financial loss, and fear of public shame they so richly deserve, their greed will insure more problems for the rest of us."

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On the fallout from New York Fed President William Dudley's assertion that the agency is more of a "fire warden" than a "cop on the beat":

"The fire warden reads as an apt metaphor here. If the Fed truly behaves as a warden should, then their decisions will safeguard the general public, not simply the insiders. A warden is enforcing these codes and regulations to protect the people that inhabit and use the building, after all, not the business owner who tries to put up a building with faulty wiring."

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On the need to beef up the qualifications necessary to serve on bank boards:

"Boards need to be comprised with skills that reflect the challenges of tomorrow the challenges of new revenue sources, new markets and market segments, new technologies to serve the consumer, new media to message that consumer. Building a board that only serves as a door opener or recognition of well-placed community leadership does not serve the main purpose of a board as a steward for the shareholder."

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On whether the Justice Department's controversial Operation Choke Point has proved to be ineffective in its stated goal of rooting out consumer fraud:

"The real test of good policy is how did [the] policies foster innovation to the benefit of a large number of consumers. Chokepoint may have been well-intentioned but the unintended consequences have terrorized legitimate business."

ATMs Will Go the Way of the Phone Booth: Comments of the Week

On the prediction that ATMs will remain important as tools for making deposits and converting physical cash into digital money:

On whether the underrepresentation of women in high-powered banking positions is indicative of gender discrimination:

On whether gender makes a difference in the banking industry:

On the argument that asking the Federal Reserve to serve as both regulator and enforcer poses an inherent conflict of interest:

On the fallout from New York Fed President William Dudley's assertion that the agency is more of a "fire warden" than a "cop on the beat":

On the need to beef up the qualifications necessary to serve on bank boards:

On whether the Justice Department's controversial Operation Choke Point has proved to be ineffective in its stated goal of rooting out consumer fraud:

On the Justice Department's case against Four Oaks Bank in North Carolina, which centered largely on the bank's ties with online payday lenders that charged consumers steep interest rates: