BankThink

A Wall Street Journal item on interchange fees struck a nerve with small business owners. In the Jan. 5 Op-Ed, Todd J. Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University, argued when merchant fees are capped, consumers end up footing the bill. He said that’s exactly what happened when Australian regulators imposed price controls on interchange fees in 2003: issuers increased annual fees on cards and reduced the generosity of their reward programs.

Commentators continue to debate whether Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd’s decision to retire makes it more or less likely that legislation overhauling financial regulation will be enacted.

Our reporting on the Huffington Post's campaign to get consumers to shift deposits to community banks -- and the consumer psyche it taps into -- continues to draw comment from readers

Steve Delfin found himself on his way out just about the same time that much of what he had preached has been finding its way in.

There is a management religion among credit union leaders today. Our faith lies in the numbers. When a decision is needed, to the financials we turn. Ratios, trends, analyses: accounting numbers rule the day.

A Human Resources vice president asked about strategies for re-educating the new "me" generation coming into the workplace.

NCUA's proper role in this suit should be as defendant. Their lack of oversight (despite being on site at WesCorp) clearly evidenced their lack of attentiveness to the activities of the management of the Corporate.

Institutional Risk Analytics, the firm that donated the search tool for the Huffington Post's Move Your Money campaign, weighed in on the debate over its chances for success. CEO and managing director Dennis Santiago pointed out in a blog post that shifting deposits out of big banks can make a "structural difference" to the financial system because checking and savings accounts have a bigger impact on the financial health of community banks.

In these recessionary times, we’ve noticed less expensive jewelry appearing under the Christmas tree. But maybe the best substitutes for gemstones are the credit cards once used to buy them

Does Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd's decision to retire help or hurt the odds of financial regulatory reform being enacted? Observers told the American Banker that it's a plus. The idea, espoused by American Bankers Association president and chief executive Edward Yingling and former Republican Sen. John Sununu, is that, with no campaign to run, Dodd is freer to focus on the legislation -- and his legacy. But others claim his lame-duck status could make moving legislation tougher