BankThink

Banks should focus on strategies to ensure their sales incentives programs actually help drive profits. Otherwise, their rewards programs are at risk of adding zero benefit to their bottom line.

For all of the sophisticated ways criminals might try to launder money, banks still need to defend against low-tech methods that aren’t easy to track.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Settled: JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $264 million and admit it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to resolve charges that it hired relatives of Chinese government officials and managers of state-owned companies to win business in China. But it may only be the first of many banks to do so. Several other U.S. and foreign banks are under investigation for similar practices, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, HSBC and UBS. "We do not expect this to be the last action resulting from that sweep," said Andrew J. Ceresney, the head of enforcement at the SEC.

Forget about municipal governments. Through transactions such as payments, banks have a trove of data that can be used to revolutionize how cities work.

Mary Jo White's exit from the Securities Exchange Commission could make even her critics unhappy (note to Sen. Elizabeth Warren: be careful what you wish for). Former Nasdaq intern Adena Friedman makes her longtime ambition of becoming CEO of the stock exchange a reality, Amy Brady talks about the growing influence of CIOs, and Edith Cooper encourages conversations about race at Goldman Sachs. Also, Annie Leibovitz has taken some new portraits of women that you can check out in a free exhibit.

The complexity for large banks trying to improve culture is they are made up of different entities with competing missions and therefore competing cultures.

Many assume that a smart contract is something totally new. However, banking has used imperfect implementations of smart contracts for at least three decades.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Targets: House Republicans are looking to scrap rules on how brokers sell retirement investments, as well as interest rate limits and disclosures on payday lenders, once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The push is being led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who is under consideration to become Treasury secretary. He asserts the rules were written by bureaucrats, not Congress. He also called for stripping the Financial Stability Oversight Council of its authority to designate nonbank financial institutions as "systemically important." Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Banker

By collaborating with consumers' favorite products or retailers, loyalty programs can get an extra punch.

Higher fees, longer turnaround times in the offing if credit unions don’t take steps to resolve issues with appraisals.