PayThink

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Two Republican legislators have suggested that affordable housing funding should be put on hold until Congress finally decides what to do about Fannie and Freddie. But why give Congress another six years to fiddle around with housing finance while the poor and homeless face a declining level of government housing assistance?

In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies need to be able to conduct business in real-time, regardless of the location of their trading partners.

If financial firms are serious about incorporating gender and ethnic diversity into their leadership teams, they need to encourage women to apply for promotions and implement more flexible work schedules.

The Basel Committee's revisions to banks' risk disclosure requirements should help investors glean more meaningful information, thereby allowing them to impose market discipline on less creditworthy institutions.

President Obama is urging Congress to pass “The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act” as one of a handful of new initiatives to better secure personal information from cybercriminals.

The federal courts have instated a $25 fee for transferring corporate bankruptcy claims. The decision was met with little fanfare — but it could pave the way to a financial transactions tax.

Critics of online alternative lenders argue that their underwriting models are unproven and that a financial crisis could bring the whole industry crashing down. But while Lending Club and other startups may be relatively new to the scene, they're no greenhorns.

E-commerce retailers generally target the 80 million millennial shoppers because they are more likely to buy things online and spend more money online than other demographics.

A spate of recent account closings at churches and charities suggests that Operation Choke Point and other de-risking directives are causing collateral damage to faith-based organizations.