BankThink

Breaking News This Morning ...Earnings season opens: Analysts are expecting a "downbeat" third quarter from U.S. banks, which began reporting earnings results on Friday. The combined profits for the big six banks are expected to fall about 9% to $20.1 billion compared to the same period last year, the Financial Times says. One reason is a 0.1% decline in business lending. "Although small, the contraction from the prior quarter is the first such drop in six years," says the Wall Street Journal, which nonetheless expects overall results "to be solid if not exciting."

With the recent release of new operating systems for both iPhone and Mac, Apple Pay is available on desktops, marking the continued expansion of Apple’s mobile payments platform. Now, users can click the Apple Pay option on desktop sites and authenticate purchases using mobile devices.

Geena Davis made a rousing speech on unconscious bias at the annual gala for our "Most Powerful" honorees. Sheila Bair writes about the importance of hiring and promoting women, while Ghela Boskovich warns that doesn't necessarily give women a voice in their organizations. Also, Avid Motjtabai, Jamie Dimon, Julie Stackhouse and a real-life Peggy Olsen.

Without investigations by the Los Angeles Times and city prosecutors, the Wells Fargo account scandal would never have come to light. Where were federal regulators?

To help ensure that women are included in digital banking's future, we must reach girls and young women at an earlier age than their college years to equip them with the IT tools they need to succeed in tomorrow's workforce.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Stumpf leaves: Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf announced Wednesday he is retiring immediately, as was widely expected following the bank's phony accounts scandal. "The toppling of Mr. Stumpf, 63 years old and just shy of his 10th year as CEO, marks a stunning comedown for a firm that largely passed through the financial crisis unscathed and which was seen as a reliable Main Street lender," the Wall Street Journal commented.

Mobile wallets check off several boxes on consumers’ payments wish list: ease, convenience and options.

About two-thirds of banks that close branches will lose deposit share in their impacted markets in time. Here's how to prevent customers from leaving your bank.

Institutions should define data "liabilities" and "assets" and represent them in a way that both touts data successes and is transparent about data gaps.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...CFPB loses appeal: A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the CFPB's structure, in which an unusual amount of power and autonomy is invested in a single director, is unconstitutional and ordered its powers be curbed. "If it stands, the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia would reduce the agency's independence, empowering the White House to supervise the agency and remove its director, in contrast to the current arrangement where the director's five-year term is intended to outlast a president's," the Wall Street Journal commented. The three-member panel also criticized the enforcement action that led to the court ruling, in which PHH Mortgage was ordered to pay $109 million for allegedly accepting kickbacks from mortgage insurers. The court ordered the agency to reconsider the penalties.