Opinions

A cloud is hovering over bankers due to the Durbin Amendment and its impending impact on their revenue. However, for bankers who focus on unique opportunities to grow their customer base, these regulatory changes coupled with emerging technologies can present a profitable silver lining.

Bankers, directly and through their lobbyists, have been expressing outrage related to the Basel III rules designed to ensure the safety and soundness of the global banking system. A top spokesman at the American Bankers Association, for example, was recently quoted saying that Basel III should be "put on a shelf."

Traditionally demand deposit account origination has followed a fairly standard process. Enter the application, check OFAC and "closed-for-cause" databases, open the account. Lather, rinse, repeat. However, with banks looking to shore up deposit account profitability in the wake of the Durbin Amendment by cutting costs and reducing fraud losses, the standard origination process just won’t do it anymore.

The recent Dreamforce conference in San Francisco focused on the rise of the 'social enterprise.'

Regulators should not allow any more bank mergers if the resulting entity would exceed $100 billion in assets. The return is just not worth the risk.

American Banker recently ran four items about allegations that banks were ripping off various kinds of businesses: retailers, appraisers, pension funds and homeowners' associations.

Core banking purchases have stayed level, vendors systems are getting better and overall things are not as bad as they might seem.

As if the financial system needed more challenges, there is a huge one lurking that never goes away: keeping data secure. Because our current market and economic predicament has presented a barrage of other risks that are perceived as more immediate, securing customer and corporate data too often remains at the bottom of the triage list.

The branch will be mainly a marketing and new account indoctrination center. Smartphones will eliminate most face-to-face transactions, as well as paper checks, currency and cards – not to mention the costs associated with those media.

Never, ever, give Twitter accounts to stockbrokers. If you give thousands of commission-based sales people access to broadcast media, someone is bound to say something stupid.