BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Another hit: Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which it was accused of overcharging homeowners for appraisals ordered after the borrowers defaulted on their mortgages. The plaintiffs allege they were charged $95 to $120 for a service that cost the bank $50 or less. Under the proposed settlement, Wells will mail checks, averaging $120 each, to more than 250,000 customers whose home loans were serviced by the bank between 2005 and 2010.

While much of the focus on chip cards is rightly placed on security, there's also a relationship building factor as consumers become aware of the benefits.

Similar to a bank system merger or migration, a blockchain core conversion project would likely take multiple years and cost tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars depending on the size of the bank.

The founder and president of Anthemis Group gets an early look at all types of fintech innovation. She's noticed that, no matter how different the ideas are, there is one underlying commonality in this sector: it's lacking something profound. Here are some small changes that could make a big difference.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Move over bitcoin: Speculators drove up the price of a single unit of Zcash – a new virtual currency that was built to be all but untraceable – to over $1,000 on Monday, a few days after it was introduced. The online currency, developed by scientists at Johns Hopkins and MIT, uses advanced cryptography that enables Zcash "to be sent around the world essentially without a trace, unlike Bitcoin." Price volatility aside, Bloomberg offers a smart take on why anonymity is important for a currency's fungibility.

The new standard protects competition for businesses and issuers of all sizes, and should not be repealed.

Marva Smalls has gotten comfortable with being uncomfortable throughout her career, and she advises others to do the same, particularly aspiring leaders.

One of the hottest bank technologies is already repeating mistakes of decades past and showing just how far banks have to go to catch up with the times. Here is one easy way to make this emerging tech more appealing to today's customers.

Wall Street JournalSoFi to sell insurance: Marketplace lender SoFi, which got its start in 2011 refinancing student loans and has since expanded into mortgages and other financial products, is now gearing up to sell life insurance. The San Francisco-based company obtained a license in its home state in September to sell insurance on behalf of Protective Life Insurance, a Japanese-owned company that had $767 billion of insurance in force at the end of last year. SoFi has since obtained licenses in several other states, according to the Journal.

Business-led mobile payment apps can build deeper relationships with consumers, and right now that beats the third party mobile wallets.