Opinions

What would happen if you took the creativity and user-focused design sensibility of Silicon Valley and applied it to one of the least consumer-friendly industries on the planet — financial services? What is the Apple of budgeting? The Facebook of lending? The Google of bill payment?

If we had a legal entity identifier in place could we have seen the problem building up? The short answer is yes.

Last week, we witnessed the largest initial public offering of a technology company in U.S. history — a company that offers its main service for free, lives entirely on the internet, and is run by a 28-year-old. The euro fell into deeper jeopardy, not merely because of news from the debt markets and at the ballot box, but because Greek and Spanish borrowers reacted to that news in real time, withdrawing much of their euro-denominated savings from domestic banks. And a $2 billion bank loss, based on computer-driven and model-based decision making, almost instantaneously impacted policy discussions and market movements, even before facts became clear.

Personal financial management software must deliver real value to banks, not just consumers. Just saying PFM increases customer loyalty doesn't cut it. The value proposition has to be more attractive given the revenue pressures banks face today.

Every year, despite the risks and high costs, millions of Americans turn to payday loans for emergency funds. To date, a top-down, regulatory approach has been the primary means of addressing the downsides of the payday lending industry. To improve protection of consumers and encourage this industry to mature, such regulation should be joined by efforts that encourage market transparency.

Virtual currency is prevalent in gaming, where users can deploy credits to continue using favorite social games or to buy virtual goods and powerups. But that's likely just the start. According to several market reports, virtual commerce is a $2.2 billion industry that's projected to grow to a whopping $6 billion in fewer than five years.

I recently introduced the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index to a group of c-level bankers, and told them that one of our top-level findings is that it's the early days for mobile payments.

In this revenue compressed environment, I hear a lot about initiatives to change bank culture from service to sales to drive badly needed cross-sell revenues.

Making more bad loans is the tuition price for learning how to build and train new underwriting algorithms.

Trying to keep up with developments in mobile financial services can be a dizzying prospect. Banks are fearful of being left in the dust, yet they are hesitant to make a big bet on mobile that could possibly distinguish them from the rest of the field but could just as easily fail.