Opinions

Empowering the unbanked to save and invest in themselves and others, through technology as simple as text- or Tweet-to-pay, will create opportunities to get people out of poverty.

Augmented reality has the potential to enhance customer service and promote sales during customers’ in-store transactions.

Banks have made hugely successful bets on emerging technologies that changed their industry and they barely have time to perfect one innovation before the pressure to find new ways of staying relevant starts up all over again.

If a customer connects to an open Wi-Fi network, fails to follow adequate Bluetooth communications protocol or uses shoddy passwords on smartphones, a bank's internal networks may be exposed to fraud.

Now, with an ATM that directly converts paper cash to bitcoin anonymously, the interaction is with a machine rather than another human. No more face-to-face meetings, no more counterparty risk.

Coinbase makes it simple to buy and sell bitcoins via a bank account, but plays only to the low-fee, frictionless nature of Bitcoin and fails to leverage its unique privacy aspects.

Many problems with payday products are concocted by activists and politicians with mercenary intent who are more interested in squelching innovation than letting people make choices for themselves.

Retail banks must start innovating, improve integration across channels and consider charging fees for services to maximize their return on investment.

Developing new online platforms to lower APRs to 365% is a waste of resources. Instead, lenders can tackle the payday problem by partnering together, cultivating loyalty and capping expected default rates.

The traditional payday loan structure should cease to serve as the standard by which innovation in this credit space is measured.