PayThink

Unfortunately, as fraud prevention technology advances, so do fraudsters’ tactics. Think of the cat and the mouse. As merchants and financial institutions become better at thwarting traditional fraud techniques, criminals are forced to adapt. The onus is now on the financial institutions and merchants to stay ahead.

Mandatory arbitration policies are gaining attention as one of the hurdles to gender parity in the financial services industry. Catherine Flax of BNP Paribas is part of a vanguard of female foreign currency traders on Wall Street, though they still stand out in the "bros' club." Is the CFO role the new 'women's' job? Also, Ally's Carrie Sumlin and Wells Fargo's Secil Watson are recognized as Digital Bankers of the Year.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal could have included flexibility for banks to offer payday loan alternatives, but the plan misses the mark.

Branch managers are essential, but it is the manager's manager that can set the tone for the performance of a bank's branch program.

How Eastern Bank pulled off something few community banks have: launching a digital lending product that the 197-year-old mutual dreamed up in its innovation lab.

The 'decentralised apps' tied to blockchain bring increased transparency, automation and security to traditional payment systems. This can create a domino effect that leads to a reduction in operational costs, accounting expenses, and friction which can benefit the business and pass savings on to customers.

The idea behind The DAO is to act as a decentralized investment fund that leverages the wisdom of crowds. But sometimes the crowd doesn't necessarily offer the wisest counsel.

We need to adopt a more nuanced view of credit that considers not only the cost of credit, but also the cost of default and the cost of having no credit.

While existing state laws show that payday lending curbs lead to positive outcomes, those laws will still benefit from a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule.

Achieving high performance is a challenge. But these five traits help the elite banks drive such impressive results.