Opinions

You'll find many disruptors in banking, but startups like Moven aren't among them. In essence, virtual banks simply dress up web storefronts to look like banks but offer one-tenth the services.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a proposal to regulate banks based on their activities rather than size and a plea for members of Congress to take action to help community banks.

In order for a blockchain to succeed, it needs to be a public resource. That means few alternative blockchains are likely to achieve much traction outside a small niche.

The fraud fix, as it is becoming clearer, is to take payment card information (account numbers, card verification values and the like) and devalue this data in an effort to make it less relevant to the hackers who seek to harvest and sell it.

Among the most important payment changes on the horizon in the U.S., is the migration to EMV technology and the looming October 1, 2015 deadline.

Apple realizes that retailers are uniquely well-positioned to encourage mobile payments adoption. That's why the company's decision to start accepting retailer loyalty cards on Apple Pay before launching a loyalty program of its own makes good sense.

Mobile payments are hot. Industry insiders both hope and fear new technology will upend reigning retail payment systems such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the need to hold bankers accountable for criminal deeds and whether the FDIC's proposed recordkeeping requirement is smart planning or pointless.

Banks are choosing to enable payment functionality through third party “Pay” wallet offerings in most part, and not their own mobile apps. And these are the same internet and technology companies banks themselves perceive to be their biggest threats.

It's hard to get consumers and merchants to change their behaviors. But eventually the convenience and well-crafted incentives of mobile payments will prompt people to give up the plastic habit.