PayThink

With terrorist attacks, shootings in schools, partisan gridlock in Washington and natural disasters worldwide all vying for headline space, it is difficult to select "the most serious" problems confronting us. But there is no question that the financial abuse of elders belongs on the list.

We applaud the NCUA for affirmatively voting to allow derivative use within the credit union movement.

Scientists spend gigantic dollars searching for proof of the smallest of theories. Physicists on the Large Hadron Collider to find the Higgs particle. Meteorologists on sophisticated computer models to measure the butterfly effect. And yet all of them could save money and time proving how small changes can have large repercussions by looking no further than credit unions.

Benjamin Lawsky, New York's top financial regulator, rarely sounds ambivalent. But when the topic is something as unprecedented and complex as Bitcoin, the big questions appear to give him pause.

Big banks have discovered that mobile banking is their best bet for combating deep consumer distrust and rampant turnover. Small banks can overcome their lock on mobile by playing up the strengths of their existing business model.

Private student loans are an asset class that has been a solid performer. There are few better ways to invest in the rebuilding of America than investing in our children and providing the means for a college education.

Merchants can't pass the blame for data breaches onto financial institutions because protecting consumers is a shared responsibility where both sides have to meet their responsibilities.

Helping people understand personal finances and empowering them to make better financial decisions ensures a better future for consumers, communities and our nation.

When taken together, the posts in our What Customers Want series thus far point to opportunities for banks to innovate around the good old George Bailey banking model.

Institutions with solid, but underperforming assets and lagging stock price valuation multiples are vulnerable to activist investors. Address problems before they are attracted to your bank.