PayThink

"I would use this," Mom said, "if there was a place nearby that accepted it." Mobile adoption confronts the classic chicken-or-egg conundrum.

Cash America International, one of the payday lending industry's biggest companies, has agreed to pay up to $19 million for alleged violations that include impeding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's examination process.

We can talk all we want about policies, process and technology, but in the end, financial services remains a people-based business. Having the right people in key risk management roles will yield the strong institutions of tomorrow.

"Payday lender Cash America International will pay up to $19 million to settle allegations that it robo-signed court documents, overcharged members of the military, and took steps to impede an examination by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," writes American Banker's Kevin Wack.

The U.S. could be at a competitive disadvantage by being less proactive in the area of gender diversity on boards. We’ll need to engage CEOs everywhere to achieve meaningful progress.

The buzzy credit card consolidator, at least in its initial incarnation, doesn’t render wallets redundant or, even, allow the consumer to do anything they can’t already.

Government officials hope to squeeze the giants down to size while executives are counting on thriving with modified business models. Reality lies somewhere in the middle.

The risk retention provision remains one of the top unfinished items for regulators implementing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Regulators' second proposal may be more popular than the original, though it still leaves banks wary.

In seeking to prevent future financial contagion, the U.S. may have gone too far in regulating the mortgage industry, cutting millions of potential buyers out of the real estate market.

Seeking to narrow the range of activities in which well-capitalized and well-managed bank holding companies can engage is a mistaken endeavor. Prohibiting activities will lessen competition, increase risk and raise costs for customers.