BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Wall Street ties: Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, is expected to be named Treasury secretary by President-elect Donald Trump. "Mr. Mnuchin's Wall Street pedigree presents a contrast with the populist themes Mr. Trump struck in his campaign, railing against big banks and vowing to close tax loopholes that benefit hedge funds," the Wall Street Journal commented. "Mr. Trump also repeatedly attacked his rivals in the primary and general elections for their Wall Street ties, especially those connected to Goldman Sachs." Mnuchin, who also made millions as a Hollywood movie producer, was Trump's campaign finance chairman. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, American Banker

With access to financial transaction data under threat by hurdles imposed by certain financial institutions, it should be up to consumers to decide how their data is used to improve their financial well-being,

Americans could have significantly more money saved for their retirement, if not for all the fees that the asset management industry charges. What's worse is most savers are unclear how much they are paying, to whom, and for what. The authors of "What They Do With Your Money: How the Financial System Fails Us and How to Fix It" propose some changes that they say would not only help the economy grow faster but improve corporate America overall.

Signs point to international regulatory reform having passed its peak, with European regulators delaying policies and agitating against further Basel III rules.

The Internal Revenue Service's petition for information on Coinbase customers is an overreach that should concern Americans regardless of whether they use bitcoin.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Differing views: The Wall Street Journal's editorial page had some strong words about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the "rogue" bureau "which has abused the law and whose structure was recently found unconstitutional. By all rights the bureau should be killed," it says, and "Mr. Trump should dismiss [Director Richard] Cordray on his first day as President." "Reform options short of a death sentence could at least restrain some of the bureau's abuses," it adds, if the GOP isn't successful in killing the agency.

Retailers are adding e-commerce services quickly, but older technology systems are making the migration difficult.

The president-elect could take aim at the Federal Reserve's ties to Wall Street, bailout authority and other reforms if he really means to take steps to help working people.

The election results will only intensify factors making competition with bank lenders more difficult, including the effect of interest rates as well as the regulatory environment.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Racing Stripe: The latest round of private funding for Stripe, a start-up that offers software and services that process payments for businesses, has boosted the value of the company to just under $9.2 billion, nearly double what it was worth less than two years ago and making it the most valuable U.S. fintech company, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Stripe's investors think the company can capitalize on the fast growth of online payments as consumers transfer more of their offline spending to internet retailers and as Stripe continues to expand internationally," the paper said. Stripe plans to use the new funds for acquisitions international expansion.