BankThink

The rankings of the Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance include some familiar faces (KeyCorp's Beth Mooney of course), but also plenty of newcomers (including U.S. Bancorp's Kathy Rogers, JPMorgan Chase's Thasunda Duckett and Wells Fargo's Yvette Hollingsworth Clark). We also look at efforts to bring more women into boardrooms and have an op-ed by the CEO of HSBC USA.

Now a buzzword for disruptive technologies, Fintech was the name of a research project initiated by Citicorp in the 1990s, when the Citigroup predecessor was trying to shed its image of being "out of touch with market preferences."

Politicians who support the idea of banking as a public utility may not be very concerned with the fate of community banks. Rather than say so directly, they gloss over the facts.

More Redlining Settlements?; Homebuilders Excited, Problems Loom

The boost of wearables also has significant potential to drive mobile payment adoption. This potential is based on the ability of wearables to expand the number of devices and places from which mobile payments can be made.

One of the biggest changes in the last 45 years in U.S. payments systems happened recently, and it went unnoticed by major media.

Community banks’ marketing efforts should aim to go beyond increasing brand visibility to engage customers face to face.

American banks long ago deserted their most impoverished communities. Today, post offices are uniquely well positioned to serve the underbanked population — and perhaps reinvigorate a culture of saving in the process.

Problems for Student-Loan Pools; Energy Lenders Squeezed

The National Association of Convenience Stores’ latest column on debit-card interchange fees is the most recent in the organization’s years-long effort to obtain government-mandated price controls. But such controls would only increase large retailers’ profits.