BankThink

If you have a data breach, get ready for a lawsuit — just over half of American consumers said in a survey that they would sue a company that exposes their sensitive information.

Banks and financial institutions have been sitting on vast amounts of customer transaction data for several decades now. The hardware and software technologies to make sense of this vast storehouse of data have been available for at least a decade now. Meanwhile the appetite for insightful data to help marketers target customers online has grown enormously, as has users' disdain for untargeted advertising.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...So Much for That: Bank of America dropped its plan to charge a monthly debit card fee, the last major bank to do so following widespread outrage. The public mood was clear when Jay Leno joked that on Halloween, "One kid wanted to charge me five bucks to give him candy.… I said: 'Who are you supposed to be?' He said: 'Bank of America!'" However, the impetus for the much-maligned fees — the loss of revenues as a result of new regulations, particularly the Durbin cap on interchange fees — remains. A comment posted by a Journal reader makes a salient point by channeling Milton Friedman: "There's no such thing as a free lunch, so expect to pay your bank for the honor and privilege of having an account." Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

Higher account maintenance fees are inevitable, because basic, relatively low-balance checking accounts are simply not profitable on their own.

Bank of America is running television ads depicting a son telling the story of how family loyalty to the bank is based on his parents approaching their local B of A branch manager some 71 years ago to finance selling hot dogs from their stand on a local corner. The piece notes that the parents offered no collateral but gained the confidence of the local manager of their potential success. This story is consistent with the history of the bank going back to its founder, A.P. Giannini who consistently worked to meet the needs of small businesses in developing areas and during difficult times.

Changing your password on a regular basis can actually be bad for security. Part of the reason is that most passwords are compromised through phishing, so their freshness and complexity doesn't actually play a role in whether they are exposed.

I recently caught up with friends, colleagues, and customers at a large banking conference.

Breaking News ...BB&T announced it will acquire BankAtlantic, including $2.1 billion in loans and roughly $3.3 billion in deposits, for an estimated premium of $301 million above BankAtlantic's current net asset value, the Journal reported. BankAtlantic's parent, BankAtlantic Bancorp, needed to raise capital.

The attempt by large banks to impose debit card fees wasn't just about wringing a bit of extra revenue out of existing customers. It was an effort by Bank of America and its competitors to rework their basic retail account business model.

Turning stolen U.S. credit cards into cash is tough if you live in a country that U.S. businesses won't ship to. Fortunately for the bad guys, there are websites that focus on solving that very problem.