BankThink

President-elect Trump faces legal questions over his idea to hold remittances ransom to fund a wall in Mexico, but the industry should take the threat seriously.

Judicial review of regulators' economic analyses can help validate whether a rule will solve a real problem at a reasonable cost.

Both major brands are accelerating a move away from traditional checkout, and all retailers need to make adjustments for the future.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Suspended: Prudential Financial said it suspended sales of its MyTerm life insurance policies through Wells Fargo following allegations that Wells employees wrote policies without customers' permission and withdrew money from their bank accounts to pay the premiums. Many of the victims did not speak English, according to a suit filed by three former Prudential employees, who claim the company tried to hush up the scandal. Prudential said Monday it would reimburse any customers who said they were charged for policies they did not ask for. California and New Jersey insurance investigators are looking into the matter. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, American Banker

Merchants should check operating systems, since the PC-based operating systems which run most legacy point of sale software have security flaws and are targets for malware.

American Banker is pleased to bring you Breaking Banks, hosted by Brett King, and featuring the editors of American Banker.

Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, discusses how Trump's election will affect financial services, what she thinks of Neel Kashkari's plan to end "too big to fail," and her views on interest rates.

While other banking laws may be headed to the chopping block, the Community Reinvestment Act can address the needs of communities defined by their economic struggles.

The focus of banks' sales practices should be less about unit-based incentives, and more about developing a full relationship with customers and doing what's in their best interest.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Positioning: Gary Cohn's likely departure from Goldman Sachs to join the Trump administration as director of the National Economic Council "sets off a new round of C-suite jockeying at Goldman, where the decade-long tenure of Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has created a younger generation of executives eager to advance," the Wall Street Journal reports. Cohn's dual roles of president and chief operating officer are likely be split among two executives, possibly investment-banking co-chief David Solomon and CFO Harvey Schwartz.