BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Collecting: The federal government is increasingly garnishing student loan borrowers' Social Security checks to recover unpaid student debt "most of it borrowed years ago to cover their own educations but some used to pay for their children's schooling," according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. Since 2001, the government has collected more than $1 billion from Social Security recipients of all ages to cover unpaid student loans, with $171 million coming in fiscal 2015 alone. That one-year total is up 440% since 2002. Most of the affected recipients are over age 50 and collecting disability benefits, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission investigated Visa for debit practices, a move that enhances competition in the marketplace for merchants.

Following the passage of the November ballot initiative, it is hugely important that cannabis businesses in the nation's largest state be able to secure bank accounts, at a minimum.

The banking system ultimately needs a balanced approach to capital, which allows banks to efficiently function while also maintaining financial stability.

Breaking News This Morning ...Deal: Lloyds Banking Group agreed to buy Bank of America's U.K. credit card business, called MBNA Limited, for about $2.4 billion. The deal, which includes about $8.7 billion in assets, would boost Lloyd's share of the British card market from 15% to 26%, about the same share as market leader Barclays. "The deal culminates years of upheaval and reorganization at the bank, which the British government bailed out in the middle of the 2008 global financial crisis," the New York Times said.

Alipay's fast growth is partly attributed to the huge size of the Chinese market, but it also deploys strategies that can serve as an example for mobile wallets in other parts of the world.

The appeal of information pathways such as the internet were seen as possibly bringing about a "comeback" for artificial intelligence in financial services — in the 1990s.

One step the government can take is to create a unified office dedicated to housing finance and policy to streamline existing agencies and programs and make them more efficient.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Still in charge: Almost forgotten in last week's senior management shakeup at Goldman Sachs is that the man who fills the corner office is still there and not going anywhere. "While Goldman [last] week underwent its most dramatic management reshuffling in a decade, Lloyd Blankfein remains firmly ensconced as chief executive — and appears likely to stay, having outlasted an impatient deputy and effectively restarted the clock on his new successors-in-waiting," the Wall Street Journal reports. "That means Goldman's strategy isn't likely to change much from the course set out in recent years: cautiously expanding into new areas while hawkishly defending its turf in the core businesses of trading and corporate banking."

As retailers, banks and technology companies continue to suffer data breaches, issuers and merchants need to take extra care when selecting payment vendors.