Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Credit Karma says it's giving customers weekly access to their full credit files, to help them fix errors and monitor their information for signs of fraud. Will banks follow suit?

On the West Coast, bankers are talking about starting new banks after a long period with scarcely any new charters, according to industry consultant and former California regulator Walter Mix. While in the aftermath of the crisis regulators seemed to have an unofficial moratorium on de novos, they now appear poised to evaluate applications on the merits, he says. Meanwhile, banks seeking approvals for mergers today can expect to be evaluated on a host of compliance matters, including unfair and deceptive acts and practices, Mix says.

Hal Brown and Roger Busse discuss how a thorough succession plan can reassure your regulators, why medical lending has been so hot recently and how to stand out among larger competitors.

Some retailers like Disney are achieving high adoption of their wearable apps. Banks are a bit behind, but a few are piloting Google Glass and smartwatch banking apps.

Regulators should be focusing on the greatest risks to the system and the safety and soundness of financial institutions, rather than pushing lawful businesses to the shadow banking system, says consultant and former California regulator Walter Mix.

"Cold storage" of cryptographic private keys, private theft insurance, and audited full reserves can prevent another Mt. Gox-like debacle, says Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Bitcoin startup Circle Internet Financial.

Every day, consumers give out their credit card or bank account numbers to strangers whom they trust to take out the correct amount and safeguard their sensitive information. "That's terrifying if you really step back and think about it," says Jeremy Allaire of Circle Internet Financial.

As banks lower down payment requirements and graduates get a handle on student loan debt, young people in their twenties and thirties are inching back toward homeownership, according to equity research analyst Ivy Zelman. "The perception that no millennial is buying today is just false," Zelman says.

Tight credit standards and student loan debt may be holding back the housing market, but equity research analyst Ivy Zelman thinks that homeownership will pick up along with the cyclical recovery. Banks are already "incrementally easing" their requirements for mortgage applicants with credit scores above 660, she says, and banks need to "fill the void" left by the refinancing slump.

The head of the Independent Community Bankers of America says the government has gone too far demanding banks act like law enforcement.