Opinion News from American Banker

EWA programs benefit workers across the country, making it more likely that they will be able to avoid high-cost credit products like payday loans. Efforts to restrict them will harm consumers.

Prediction markets are a problem not just for banks, but also for banks' human resources departments; plus, the new Basel framework may end up recreating the environment it was intended to prevent.

As bitcoin plays an ever-larger role in cross-border transactions, what remains to be seen is how prepared the various bodies overseeing global finance are to engage with an asset that operates largely beyond their ability to meaningfully control it.

A former federal housing regulator warns that U.S. banks are not engaging with the real and growing risks that climate change is creating in their existing mortgage portfolios. The consequences of inaction could be punishing.

Quantum computers are one dire threat for cryptos, but public disinterest is a bigger one.

Unionization efforts at several Wells Fargo locations go in reverse, while the buzzy blockchain stuff overshadows the plain fact that customers want products that help them rather than gee-whiz technology.

Despite headlines threatening massive AI-driven disruption of the industry, legacy financial institutions with vast troves of customer data are actually very well positioned to reap the benefits of AI — if they understand how.

A database that holds the details about every attack on databases is itself at risk of being compromised, which would leave banks and other businesses on their own when it comes to network defense.

It may seem tempting to make use of advertising that plays up the negative aspects of your competition, or tries to set your organization apart from a less-than-appealing stereotype, but such messaging rarely lands well with consumers.

From transaction to transaction, it is impossible for merchants accepting major credit cards to know with certainty what interchange fees they are being charged. Until that's fixed, the interchange wars will continue.

New app-based programs resemble payday loans, often trapping users in a pattern of fee-based transactions while demanding "tips" that cost some consumers hundreds of dollars per year.

Banks are a critical link in the chain of elder fraud; blockchain is exciting and infrastructure is boring, but they're actually the same thing; and there are way more home sellers than buyers.

In a digital world, paper checks are an expensive, inefficient and unsecured vestige of the past. Bankers, regulators and policymakers need to come together around a strategy to eliminate their role in the U.S. financial system.

A rumored executive order that would require banks to verify the citizenship of their account holders would be incredibly burdensome for banks. It would also result in the "debanking" of untold numbers of Americans.

Two credit unions in San Diego are locked in a bitter fight over a proposed merger; and a community bank in upstate New York fights off a corporate raider.

By welcoming AI-driven vendor platforms into their banks, small and midsize institutions are introducing risks that are poorly understood and potentially interrelated. Boards of directors need to start paying attention.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is charged with protecting the U.S. financial system, but its failure to implement a whistleblower program authorized in 2022 leaves the agency unable to capitalize on a key source of intelligence.

Trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is fine, but it's a sideshow: Blockchain is the underlying innovation that has the potential to change the way markets operate.

The SEC appears to be serious about moving from quarterly reporting to semiannual, but what if technology could provide a path in the other direction?

It won't be long before the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz begins to make itself felt across various aspects of banks' balance sheets. If it's protracted, a new oil shock will force a major reassessment of asset values.