Resources

Government authorities say that 70 million Americans are either underbanked and unbanked. Yet many of these people are well served by the financial system. American Banker staffers discuss whether the issue of the financially underserved is overblown and if so what may be behind the trend.

Bank of America this month disclosed plans to eliminate its crisis-era purchase by the end of this year, keeping Merrill Lynch's name and branding but dissolving the formal subsidiary. The merger should help Chief Executive Brian Moynihan's multi-year cost-cutting effort and will help eliminate some complexity at B of A, as regulators continue to scrutinize the size and scale of large financial companies.

From California to New York, state regulators have been clamping down on payments industry innovators, forcing some out of business and discouraging others from even entering the market. That raises the question of whether antiquated statutes and ways of thinking have become an impediment to one of the banking industry's most promising growth businesses.

See how the U.K. version of the PayPal Here mobile point of sale technology enables EMV chip-card payments.

As mobile banking and commerce have taken off, so too have the number of bugs in wireless systems. Here's a look at how some industry leaders are exterminating them and what it means for banks.

Many community bankers are looking to expand into new types of activity to bolster their results in a time of sluggish loan demand. However, venturing into everything from wealth management to credit cards to cybersecurity poses formidable risks as well as rewards. American Banker staffers discuss the trend.