Bankers argued for two years that a consumer protection authority would prove fuzzy in practice. Now that it's a reality, many in the industry still believe there's too much mystery involved, despite the CFPB's all-out efforts at transparency.

Debunking old theories, issuing new challenges and celebrating achievements in the industry.

The CFPB can work to safeguard checking account holders by setting regulations around the disclosure of fees and overdraft options. No matter how uniformity is reached, it will enhance competition and make the market run more efficiently.

Community banks are starting to swap their national charters for those from the state, cutting costs and looking for a better understanding of their business.

Sometimes, criticism is found in your own backyard.

A Puerto Rico-based institution widens its niche in a Chicago neighborhood, with plans to expand.

A networking idea for women in the business community blossomed into something of far greater value for both sides.

Banks launched later in the decade, whose ramps to profitability lagged their predecessors’, provide a cautionary tale about headwinds that can emerge in an unstable economy, and the dangers of piling into a strategy based on brokered deposits and real estate lending.

The roughly 800 banks opened since 2002 have failed at about twice the industrywide pace. But some, including a few that have been repurposed as rollup vehicles, have prospered. The tables here rank the best and worst performers among the de novos of the past decade.

GreenPoint Financial's Thomas Johnson awarded by the Institute of International Understanding; Ivanka Trump joins Signature Bank's board of directors; Mary Tuuk takes on a business line for Fifth Third.

Select quotes from the world of financial services.