BankThink

The inconsistency between what millennials say on surveys and their actual behavior should make bank marketers skeptical about building programs around such research.

The suggestion that any area has too many local institutions dismisses the importance of community banks and overlooks the dangerous effects of consolidation.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Call for consolidation: Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan called for more consolidation in the profit-challenged European banking industry, just after a German magazine reported the bank had considered amd rejected a bid for rival Commerzbank. "It is undeniable that Europe's banks are stuck in a fundamental dilemma," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a conference in Frankfurt. "We have become significantly more secure since the financial crisis. We maintain more capital and liquidity with fewer risks in our balance sheets. However, we are also far less profitable today." Cryan said the European Central Bank's below-zero-rate monetary policy has made it hard for banks to make money.

Approximately 37 million adults in the United States — a number roughly equivalent to the population of California — do not have a checking account. Some of those individuals have never relied on traditional banking.

Industry fears about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's "UDAAP" authority recall steps Congress took in the '70s to rein in the Federal Trade Commission.

The challenges of running a business become exponentially greater when managers seem to be spending more and more of their time finding and training new team members than in actually executing strategy.

Wall Street JournalAML clarification: U.S. banking regulators issued a "Fact Sheet" that tries to clarify anti-money-laundering rules that some critics say are forcing banks to cut off access to innocent countries, businesses and individuals for fear of being penalized. The report is intended to "dispel certain myths" about the rules, which have caused some banks to refrain from serving customers in island nations, emerging-market countries and those in drug-ridden areas, such as the U.S. border with Mexico. In a blog post accompanying the report, senior Treasury officials said regulators resolve "about 95 percent" of compliance failures without penalties and that banks are not required to vet the customers of their foreign bank clients.

While biometric authentication has garnered significant attention in recent months, its actual application in face-to-face environments has seen slow adoption to date.

Banks and regulators both deserve credit for how they have navigated the post-crisis period, but how regulators continue to implement rules — and how banks continue to deal with this environment — will determine if this is a turning point for finance or the prelude to another round of pain.

Banks need more specific guidance that clarifies requirements around vendor contracts, risk assessments, data management and other issues.