PayThink

The best thing a banker can do today is regard the U.K. as a real-world fintech laboratory, track developments closely and seek opportunities to capitalize on change, writes Naomi Bowman, managing director for Berkeley Research Group in London.

With strategic changes at key trade groups and attention shifting away from regulatory relief for community banks, the interests of large institutions have taken on more prominence.

A solid software development life cycle method — a way of organizing the work of a software development team — can mean the difference between getting ahead in payments or falling behind, according to Chet Culver, director of application development at CardConnect.

Banks should update their online and mobile applications — bigger font sizes, perhaps — to ensure their offerings are accessible to older customers.

These money transfers offer many transformative benefits, such as lifting recipient families out of poverty, improving health and nutrition conditions, increasing education opportunities and promoting entrepreneurship, says Raj Agrawal, CFO of Western Union.

The Community Reinvestment Act can lower — not increase — bank credit availability in some low-income regions, and the OCC should reconsider holding fintechs to the same standards with its new charter.

To compete with fintech startups, banks need to find more ways to use the mountains of data already at their disposal.

Bitcoin's scale and energy consumption have held it back as a payments option, but there are advancements that can change that, according to Jan-Willem Burgers, Europe technology lead with the distributed ledger practice at Capgemini.

The banking industry has been raising alarms about the growth of a few credit unions, but the critiques ignore the vast size differences between the two sectors and the tremendous growth banks have seen since the crisis.

The banking industry has been raising alarms about the growth of a few credit unions, but the critiques ignore the vast size differences between the two sectors and the tremendous growth banks have seen since the crisis.