PayThink

The task seems simple enough, but how often do discussions about underbanked consumers begin by answering the question of who the underbanked really are? Banks have long pursued business from customers who currently do more with check cashing stores and payday lenders than with depository institutions. But lumping these potential customers into a single group may be detrimental to the effort, a new report from the Aite Group suggests.

There´s another set of rankings out: the best places to work in the federal government in 2009. The results, unlike the rankings for top lobbyists, are somewhat surprising. For instance, how did the Treasury Department come to be deemed the sixth best place to find a good work/life balance?

It may have been a rough year for banks and other financial firms, but their lobbyists still seem to be winning. Throughout the month of May, The Hill newspaper has been publishing lists of the top Washington lobbyists, and there are some familiar faces among the crowd.

The Treasury Department has been promising new details on its regulatory restructuring agenda all month, and time is running out. Will an announcement come this week? We've heard the answer is no. Washington will have to keep waiting for a fresh component of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's plan, along with rules about executive compensation limits--a release that is even longer overdue.

Banks and regulators have one good reason to celebrate the decline in newspaper readership, but it doesn´t have much to do with journalism. A company that deals collector´s coins took out a full page advertisement in the Washington Post on Thursday touting the merits of armored safes. Mock news articles on the ad page warned of the dangers of depository institutions.

I have to say Matt Blumenfeld has written an excellent article, "Will Third Time Be Unlucky Charm for Overdraft Reform" (CU Journal, May 11). I am especially gratified that Credit Union Journal has given balanced treatment to a controversial subject.

Credit union best practices in 2009? Some credit union leaders might respond by saying it's enough just to keep the doors open and the lights on this year.

Amidst the stock market collapse, bank failures, and negative press there may be a silver lining for credit unions. According to Forrester Research's Recession Marketing report (December 2008), consumers "look for brands they know and which support their need to connect to their peers. To thrive even in these economic hard times, brands can benefit by focusing more on demand retention and upsell than on acquisition."

Thanks to Frank Diekmann and the Credit Union Journal's Grow Show for opening my eyes to what the private sector and credit unions can learn from the Navy.

A storm opened up in Britain this week over the planned resignation of Lloyds Banking Group chairman Sir Victor Blank and the "shadowy" governmental organization thought to be behind the move: U.K. Financial Investments. Blank´s is the story of a man who agreed to work with the government during the height of crisis by buying a teetering giant, HBOS, thus saving the system from collapse, only to be punished as HBOS´ subsequent losses crippled Lloyds, its savior.