BankThink

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized its first rule, took its first enforcement actions, and landed its first deals with state regulators and municipalities to enhance data sharing all during the agency's first year. The CFPB's most challenging work, however, is still to come.

Rep. Barney Frank opened up with American Banker's Rob Blackwell in a 2012 interview, discussing what motivated him to get into politics, his personal life, and the cause of political gridlock in Congress.

"With a divided Congress slow to confirm appointees, only one of the four federal bank regulators had a permanent chief, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors had just three members. No one on the board was the confirmed head of an agency," writes American Banker's Joe Adler.

If customers are more likely to find you through an Internet search than by noting your actual existence along their commutes, well, good luck with that.

Avoid a change if your bank lacks the ability or resources to implement it successfully. Instead, consider accepting low growth, managing the institution for cash and returning the excess capital to shareholders.

Cybercriminals will target small banks, mobile platforms and cutting-edge payment forms in an effort to delay service and obtain data next year.

Bankers say their decisions and progress are retarded by uncertainty about pending government actions. That's nonsense. Seldom has the future been as clear as it is today.

"Deposit fee" is one of the more popular terms being used in new naming conventions, while some banks are scrapping their fees altogether.

Successful banks are, among other things, focusing on education and employee training courses, establishing a formal enterprise risk management department and tying compensation to clearly defined best practices.

Developing and implementing programs that accurately detect consumer vulnerabilities in the marketplace is important to better manage risk at financial institutions and for public policy purposes.