PayThink

The Volcker rule included in the Dodd-Frank Act was intended to eliminate "proprietary trading" at universal banks. This was largely motivated by the massive losses incurred by the proprietary trading desks of Wall Street investment firms that securitized mortgages. In the rush to mitigate systemic risk in the wake of the subprime lending debacle, banking charters and the Fed's protective umbrella were extended to the remaining investment banks. The thinking was that trading is risky, and hence not appropriate for insured banks, but establishing rules to prevent trading at universal banks was never going to be easy.

Perhaps one of the security benefits of mobile wallets will be that the pairing of phones with payments makes users – and fraudsters – easier to track.

I'm hoping William Dudley would consider a meander down the street to Zuccotti Park, with the Fed's consent order against Goldman Sachs in hand. Let the crowd know that the Fed not only shares your pain, but has a few analgesics that might make you feel a bit better.

In all the talk about new checking account fees and their impact on the financially underserved, there has been little focus on actual consumers. It is worth reminding ourselves who "they" are.

Users of Google's Android smartphone software may already be more wary of new apps because the Android Market is not as strictly policed as the Apple App Store is. But users may not be concerned about updates to already-installed apps — and hackers are trying to exploit that trust.

The huge debt of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, other government-sponsored enterprises and Ginnie Mae fully relies on the credit of the United States. It is in fact government debt, but it is not accounted for as government debt. It is not "considered officially to be part of the total debt of the federal government," the Federal Reserve coyly notes.

Bank executives, audit committees and shareholders risk additional scrutiny and unwelcome publicity under the best-case scenario – and audit failures under the worst case – if their auditor picks a fight with the PCAOB.

Regulations to implement the Volcker Rule have hit the street. Now a new phase of the battle to reign-in proprietary trading by banks is at hand. If past is prologue, a tough and divisive battle looms. Meanwhile, the industry, regulators and customers will be dealing with the uncertainty that has bedeviled all concerned since Dodd-Frank was enacted.

"Stay tuned." Those were the words Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used on CNBC last week to apprise an angry public that more bank bashing is yet to come.

The "hacktivist" group CabinCr3w, which has ties to Anonymous, has posted what it says are the personal details of yet another big-bank CEO: Brian Moynihan.