BankThink

Until we have true interoperability across payments platforms, competition will be stunted. Cryptocurrencies offer a model solution to breaking the hold banks and card networks have on consumer choice.

Government must adapt supervision to account for fintechs, cryptocurrencies and other innovations. Otherwise it could contribute to a debacle like when it failed to grasp the impact that new financial instruments such as money market funds would have on traditional financial institutions.

This past year has proven that traditional leadership models will not take us forward. Attracting and retaining talent, especially diverse talent, depends on how well we listen to and understand the many changes in what employees value.

A central bank digital currency based on the U.S. dollar could pull deposits from banks, and it might crowd out innovative private-sector products.

Talwar, who is leaving his job as chairman of Goldman's consumer bank this month, explains his philosophy on innovating within a large organization, making a digital-only unit work within a 150-year-old institution, and how he deals with skeptics.

Even financial institutions that have updated their practices still don’t hit the basic benchmarks of transparency and fairness.

Allowing the Small Business Administration to originate, rather than just guarantee, loans would provide much-needed capital to startups and mom-and-pop shops that many banks, credit unions and other lenders view as risky credits.

American banks need the kind of clear rules European institutions have enjoyed for several years if they're to become leaders in sharing consumer data with fintechs.

Online lenders are a fast-growing sector of the financial system that hardly existed when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created. The bureau should hold fintech lenders to the same standards as banks to eliminate a blind spot in supervision.

Having the U.S. Postal Service offer bank accounts is a bad idea for many reasons, including privacy concerns. The USPS, which has reportedly spied on Americans' social media accounts, cannot be trusted with a window into their finances.