BankThink

Bankers in the U.S. can learn a few things from watching the rollout of the European Union's new AI Act. Specifically, they should notice the gaping hole where rules about identity verification ought to be.

The industrial bank charter is attracting increased interest because of the combination of innovation and safety it offers. However, charters should only go to companies that can meet a rigorous set of requirements.

Bankers, particularly at the midsize and regional level, should be on the lookout for more opportunities to develop networked solutions to common problems, such as know-your-customer operations and fraud detection.

In a contentious hearing in the House Financial Services Committee, congressional Democrats evinced serious skepticism about the Federal Home Loan Bank System. That could bode ill for the Home Loan banks should control of the House flip in November.

The future of on-chain finance in the U.S. is dependent on there being statutory certainty about the rules of the road. The Clarity Act may not be perfect, but passing it is essential to maintaining U.S. leadership in the field.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System is a vital part of the country's housing market, but over the years, misunderstandings and misleading statistics have muddied the picture when it comes to assessing their importance.

The joint American Banker-Capital Performance Group study of 2025's top-performing banks reveals that for institutions under $2 billion of assets, success comes from a fee-income engine, a defensible lending niche and radical cost discipline.

America's smallest bank, with just $3.7 million of assets, survived for more than a century, including the Great Depression and the Great Recession. But, it could not survive overzealous regulators.

Return-to-office mandates in the financial services world are based more on senior executives' "gut" feelings than on real data. In many cases their main effect is to add stress to the lives of front-line employees.

The biggest barrier to effective adoption of AI within banks is not the capability of the AI systems themselves, but the failure to recognize that the technology is only as good as the underlying systems it helps automate.