Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Bank of the West's Andy Harmening says there needs to be more conversation to determine the future of the big banks and whether they should be broken up. Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head, spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

Bank of the West's Andy Harmening discusses the advantages of being owned by France's BNP Paribas. "For us, it's been a very positive relationship," he says. Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head, spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

Banks have to reconsider how their customers are using mobile technology, branches and ATMs, and successful companies will create an "integrated multichannel experience," says Bank of the West's Andy Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head. He spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

PwC partners John Garvey, Bob Lieberberg & Bob Ross discuss the results of PwC's study, and why financial firms must focus on expense management to achieve the results they desire.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Congress are pushing for fixes to the student loan market, but some of their proposals are focused on the relatively small portion of loans made by banks and other private lenders.

"Operations Risk" has become a popular topic lately among bankers, regulators and consultants with services to sell. American Banker editors discuss whether the discipline is anything more than a repackaging of mainstream management and whether it could end up doing more harm than good.Related article: Bankers, Regulators Embrace Fuzzy Science of Ops Risk

Ripple, the latest project of serial disruptor Chris Larsen, aims to be a flexible technology for handling digital payments in any imaginable currency, from bucks to bitcoins to bicycle parts.

The recent public fascination with the digital currency Bitcoin taps into a latent frustration with the current inadequate banking and payments system, says Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion. While Bitcoin itself may not be the wave of the future, it shows how the next generation of payments technologies will work and bears watching by bankers.

Processing payments is a costly activity for banks, one that nonbank businesses, such as telecommunications operators and retailers may be able to handle more nimbly and efficiently, says Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion. Rather than threats, banks should view these more lightly regulated outsiders as potential partners.

The economist Friedrich Hayek famously advocated competitive issuance of money. Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion says this may soon come to pass, with multiple currencies, public and private, serving as means of exchange and stores of value. Are you ready to pay for purchases in kilowatt hours?