Opinions

The launch of Apple Pay late last year was bound to shake up the crowded and fragmented mobile payments market. Banks now face more pressure to make the right plays in this space or else lose their customers.

A number of companies across the U.S. are harnessing technology to solve Americans' cash flow challenges. But there is much more to be done to bring these solutions to the millions of Americans who need them.

Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Wallet are among the mobile payment services vying for dominance. Here's what every banker needs to know to get a game plan in place.

You would think by now most merchants would know how to protect payment card information.

For ex-bankers like Ruth Porat, who is leaving Morgan Stanley for Google, free-flowing cash and a sunnier climate are only part of Silicon Valley’s allure, industry observers note. The tech sector is also mercifully light on regulation.

Social media data offers banks a vast, relatively untapped source of insights about everything from marketing to identifying new customers, talent and potential risk management issues. The key is assembling a team that knows how to mine social media for information.

An employee's careless tweet or Facebook status update can pose big risks to financial firms, but social media is still a necessary tool for engaging with younger customers.

Banks will only be able to compete with nimble digital startups if they invest in a diverse portfolio of fintech initiatives and avoid foisting traditional, buttoned-down cultures onto fledgling partners.

Countries including Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia and India have proved that there are viable ways to find alternatives to branches, use mobile devices to increase the reach of financial services and roll out government-supported financial inclusion projects.

The Mandarin Oriental hotel chain recently became the latest big business to suffer a data breach, sounding a call to the hospitality business to shore up security posture.