Opinions

The social network just wants to know everything about the consumer. Payments happen to be the best way for people to show they really "like" a product.

Few managers manage costs. Instead, they manage the elements around cost, such as headcount. That never illuminates how work can be done differently to create permanent operating efficiencies.

Exposing complex financial instruments to the vetting of thousands of experts could help restore trust in banks.

The industry is like a 1920s Hollywood actor who does not understand the new technology, has not seen it coming and doesn't understand why the change is happening.

Look ma, no hands (or mag stripe): Sporting eyewear with a built-in camera, a cashier or flea market vendor could accept a payment card simply by looking at it.

The Durbin amendment did not so much make the economics of low value payments unsustainable as reveal the fundamental truth that they were unsustainable to begin with.

The individual responsible for "enterprise growth" at American Express was recently quoted in this newspaper, saying about mobile that the "data is more valuable than the payment transaction." We're told this preference for data contradicts Amex "tradition." No, it contradicts Amex experience.

Banks spend a great deal of money remodeling branches. Many fork over tens of millions of dollars on remodel initiatives every year, and some of the largest banks will spend over $100 million.

The Federal Reserve Board is preparing to release yet another important rule required by Dodd-Frank: how and why fraud occurs in debit card transactions and who should have to pay for it.

Despite all of the new powers at their disposal, regulators continue to emphasize simplified and standardized disclosure as a critical tool to ensure consumers get a fair deal.