Opinions

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Innovations from nonbanks will need a platform to provide distribution and the ability to scale quickly. Smart bankers will partner with startups to provide together what neither could do alone.

After failing to respond to customer demand and missing tectonic shifts in money transmission and online and mobile payments, banks have an opportunity in the emerging area of cryptographic money.

Companies that provide on-demand, cross-account control and recommendations are best positioned to serve evolving consumer behavior. Banks that don’t get ahead of this shift could be relegated to the role of back-end infrastructure provider.

Branch numbers will grow again while the industry’s total branch square footage goes down. More customers will choose their banks based on the availability of a branch they won’t use all that much.

Businesses that provide payments services to companies that collect or use consumer data should closely watch the FTC’s recent lawsuits against two processors and fully assess the legal risks that might be associated with their business relationships.

Future banking will feel more like a medical relationship, serving customers with the intimacy and attention of the family doctor. This will require a Hippocratic-oath level of trust.

What products and services will tomorrow's banks offer that truly add value and that customers will be willing, even happy, to pay for? We asked contributors to think big and broad.

Developers should consider incorporating rewards and other tools such as receipt tracking in new mobile payment applications to promote broad adoption.

In the age of big data and social connectivity, it is essential, and now urgent, for card marketers to find a way to become more consumer-centric in their marketing efforts.