PayThink

How many stolen vans does it take to break into an ATM? In Nashville, Tenn., thieves needed two.

If MF Global commingled client funds, it would be PwC’s fault as much as Jon Corzine’s.

Brian Moynihan gives an interview on camera, on the spot. ABC dwells on the sidewalk chase. Will bankers who hide their checking fees get the same treatment?

The latest data confirm what housing practitioners already knew: there are simply not enough home sales today to spark a housing recovery. Whether it is a recent Mortgage Bankers Association survey on purchase applications being at a 15 year low, the Federal Housing Administration's fiscal year 2011 purchase data indicating a 30% decline or Fannie and Freddie's consistently weak purchase volume, all show a market in serious trouble.

The Texas Ratio is often used to measure the riskiness of a bank and its likelihood of failure. But recently, it has lost its distinctiveness as being uniquely Texan.

If you have a data breach, get ready for a lawsuit — just over half of American consumers said in a survey that they would sue a company that exposes their sensitive information.

Banks and financial institutions have been sitting on vast amounts of customer transaction data for several decades now. The hardware and software technologies to make sense of this vast storehouse of data have been available for at least a decade now. Meanwhile the appetite for insightful data to help marketers target customers online has grown enormously, as has users' disdain for untargeted advertising.

Higher account maintenance fees are inevitable, because basic, relatively low-balance checking accounts are simply not profitable on their own.

Bank of America is running television ads depicting a son telling the story of how family loyalty to the bank is based on his parents approaching their local B of A branch manager some 71 years ago to finance selling hot dogs from their stand on a local corner. The piece notes that the parents offered no collateral but gained the confidence of the local manager of their potential success. This story is consistent with the history of the bank going back to its founder, A.P. Giannini who consistently worked to meet the needs of small businesses in developing areas and during difficult times.

Changing your password on a regular basis can actually be bad for security. Part of the reason is that most passwords are compromised through phishing, so their freshness and complexity doesn't actually play a role in whether they are exposed.