PayThink

As we approach the midpoint of 2016, two of the most pressing matters in the payments industry have become more acute—the push for greater transparency and accountability in merchant acquiring and processing.

Want customers and noncustomers to hold your bank in high regard? Then get executives to offer thought leadership on social issues, rather than just having them be a mouthpiece for quarterly earnings. That's what the Reputation Institute recommends, as leadership replaces performance as a key driver of bank reputations.

Is being customer-centric a goal at your bank? You’ll need to master these five practices to align employee behavior with your desire to improve the customer experience.

Initial coin offerings are the latest fad for many emerging cryptocurrency companies and projects. From the recently completed Lisk, Waves and Mycelium coin offerings to the historic crowd sale by the DAO – which was subsequently hacked for about $60 million – to Bitland, Project Decorum, Elastic Project and a good number more sales, the trend is clear.

Heather Cox says Citi cherry-picks the best of fintech apps for its own services; FemTech leaders ponder what Brexit means for fintech; and SEC chair Mary Jo White takes on board diversity. Plus, Synovus' Liz Dukes Wolverton and Synchrony's Carol Juel.

The business case for real-time payments is not the opportunity to charge high fees. Rather, the payoff – which will take time – will come in retaining customers, lowering operational costs, and delivering timely financial insights to smartphone-toting customers.

Former NCUA Chairman Michael Fryzel suggests expanding the number of board members of the federal regulator is not a good idea.

Attendees at the recent White House fintech summit shined a spotlight on shared innovation challenges. To overcome them and help the U.S. make progress in financial services, we need to embrace these three regulatory reforms.

The approach of many payment and financial services companies to security is still stuck in the 20th century. But luckily, firms of all sizes can choose to travel in time to 2016.

The cryptocurrency ecosystem operates on the fringes of tradition, with "initial coin offerings" announced, discussed and carried out largely via online forums and without regulation. The phenomenon is high-risk and should be treated as such.