PayThink

The flood of new regulation, demands for more capital, harsh enforcement and an unexplained three-year-old de facto moratorium on de novo charters lead one to believe Washington wants fewer community banks

Banks can retain their best and brightest staff by offering career advancement opportunities, competitive base salaries, adequate training and attentive performance management.

Romney may have worded it awkwardly, but he has never expressed a more pro-female sentiment than when he talked about those "binders full of women." Oftentimes, you need to deliver the resumes of female candidates directly to the decision makers in order to promote gender equity.

The slew of mortgage rules coming down the pike tops the list for mortgage lender angst. And it's not just lenders who are concerned. Fair lending advocates worry about tighter standards leading to a squeeze on credit.

The simmering controversy over American Express' Bluebird card typifies a classic debate: When do regulations that ostensibly protect the public from shady operators really just protect incumbent businesses from competition?

Legal violations in student loan servicing may be worse than those in mortgage servicing for borrowers in the militar, says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Defense Department. So the two are joining forces to help stop it.

There needs to be stronger incentive for bankers to behave, far-reaching cultural changes spurred by directors and a unilateral commitment to stamp out money-laundering schemes.

It seems a shame we limit these debates to politics, doesn't it? What if credit unions and their trade groups hired their presidents in the same way?

The crisis of 2007-2008 brought profound changes to the financial services industry as well as to the American consumer's habits, changing the CFO's role.

Amex's Bluebird card account, exempt from Durbin and assertedly from bank regulation, is likely to generate high interchange. Consumers, banks and Amex won't pay for these checking accounts. Merchants (excepting Walmart) will.