BankThink

It's tough to explain the bizarre way the CFPB handled the decision to dismiss the members of three advisory councils earlier this week.

Paring down branches, product offerings and business lines can help banks succeed.

The Patriot Act, for example, requires all U.S. businesses to comply with regulations issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Those that fail to comply, knowingly or inadvertently, are susceptible to significant fines and even legal action, writes Peter Shore, general manager of Transpay.

As customers increasingly research products online, they are coming to know more about a bank’s products than workers. This is a problem.

Agency says it wants “smaller memberships to ensure streamlined discussions;” the bank hired a U.K. firm to help it better defend against cyberattacks.

There is a growing fraud problem encompassing much more than the direct value of lost merchandise. There is also manual order review, opportunity costs from false positives and the massive overhead of implementing fraud-fighting best practices, writes Ryan Breslow, CEO of Bolt.

The agency has no plans to release general findings from an extensive review of sales practices at large and midsized banks. That's troublesome, and will only fuel the perception that it is too cozy with the institutions it regulates.

Innovations such as automated smart safes can make it easier to track the flow of paper money, reducing theft risk, and cut down on the number of armored truck pickups, according to Sam Bosch, president and CEO of Peregrin Financial Technologies.

The regulatory relief legislation rolls back several stress test requirements for regional and midsize banks, putting more onus on financial institutions and their regulators to ensure banks are managing their risk appropriately.

The OCC finds widespread problems in bank retail sales practices; Ripple and Swift competition for payments pits technology against convention.