PayThink

The Senate's approval of Richard Cordray's nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely to end the Republicans' push for a change to the bureau's structure.

Companies that provide on-demand, cross-account control and recommendations are best positioned to serve evolving consumer behavior. Banks that don’t get ahead of this shift could be relegated to the role of back-end infrastructure provider.

An encompassing denominator and full disclosure requirements should assuage concerns that Basel fails to go far enough to cushion banks for unexpected losses.

Notwithstanding recent media criticism, there is little doubt that these products offer a better alternative for unbanked and underbanked consumers who would otherwise use a cash-based system to manage their finances.

Sen. Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, asked the Government Accountability Office to shadow the Financial Stability Oversight Council's process for designating systemically important institutions.

Branch numbers will grow again while the industry’s total branch square footage goes down. More customers will choose their banks based on the availability of a branch they won’t use all that much.

A bipartisan commission, in lieu of a director, would encourage internal deliberation and constrain the CFPB’s ability to make politically motivated or ill-informed decisions.

The Senate Banking Committee's Republican chief counsel and deputy staff director, Andrew Olmem, joined the law firm Venable as a partner.

Businesses that provide payments services to companies that collect or use consumer data should closely watch the FTC’s recent lawsuits against two processors and fully assess the legal risks that might be associated with their business relationships.

Future banking will feel more like a medical relationship, serving customers with the intimacy and attention of the family doctor. This will require a Hippocratic-oath level of trust.