PayThink

One step the government can take is to create a unified office dedicated to housing finance and policy to streamline existing agencies and programs and make them more efficient.

As retailers, banks and technology companies continue to suffer data breaches, issuers and merchants need to take extra care when selecting payment vendors.

To act like a startup — as many banks say they want to do — institutions must employ a nontechnical strategy: build services based on customers say they want.

Borrowers served by the FHA program, particularly first-time buyers and minorities, have benefited from nonbanks' increase in lending. Those independent lenders should be commended for filling a gap.

The chip card migration is drawing more attention to card not present fraud. Account takeover risk is also on the rise.

A startup aims to highlight the social impact that banks have to allow easier vetting by prospective customers; community banks like Jill Castilla's are getting income from being tech vendors; and Amex is making its parental leave policies better next year, in a move that just might be an emerging trend. Plus, Wonder Woman loses her U.N. job … because of the way she dresses.

It is not a clear-cut statement to say Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need more capital, and it detracts from the real debate over long-term housing finance reform.

The National Credit Union Administration rule expanding member business lending introduces new risks and lacks legal basis.

In response to a series of cyber bank thefts, Swift has developed new guidance. It's a necessary first step, though banks for now are still left to fend for themselves.

A legislative proposal would expand Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's use of specially-created debt securities to share their risk with private investors, but such risk transfer deals are not a replacement for core capital.