PayThink

In his account of the financial crisis, former Treasury Secretary and New York Fed President Tim Geithner offers a full-throated defense of his fight to bail out Washington Mutual's bondholders and protect Citigroup's bid to take over Wachovia.

Bank boards are busier than ever, but that's no excuse for putting succession planning on the back burner, say consultants Peter Thies and Ollie Sommer.

Advocates of mandatory arbitration say that it is cheaper than litigation and just as fair to consumers. Both claims are suspect.

E-commerce has led to a rapid expansion of the options and methods of executing payments.

Mutual funds pose no threat to the stability of the financial system. Yet regulators appear determined to designate them as systemically important financial institutions-a move that could hurt millions of Americans who depend on the funds as retirement savings vehicles.

A look at four financial technology startups reveals major trends in the industry. Mobile applications, digital currencies, small data and alternative lending are all heating up.

Over the course of the NACHA Payments Annual conference, ACI conducted a survey to capture the sentiment of our industry experts and practitioners on hot topics impacting the payments ecosystem. We included mobile payments and real-time ACH, the latter of which generated interesting feedback and spirited discussion that was both insightful and directionally important to where we are headed as an industry.

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

There have been numerous media reports, along with considerable confusion, surrounding the subject of student loans.

Three key crisis response concepts can help bank leadership teams avoid the fate of Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, who resigned this week in the aftermath of the company's holiday season cyberattack.