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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "has been a good communicator" with the banking industry and "has done some positive things" but also has "a big job to do," says Bank of the West's Andy Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head. Harmening discusses the advantages and pitfalls of dealing with the new regulatory agency at American Banker's annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

Bank of the West is trying to expand its lending, even to small-business borrowers who are initially turned down for new loans, while managing risk prudently. Andy Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head, discusses the bank's efforts to increase business but control risk. He spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

The OCC is seeking enforcement powers against the consultants it requires banks to hire, but having such authority may be a limited fix at best.

Big banks and their CEOs are facing lots of questions at their upcoming shareholder meetings, but the stakes might be higher for community and regional banks.

Bank of the West is putting a big focus on small-business lending while waiting for the sluggish loan growth environment to improve, says Andy Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head. Harmening spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

As regulatory scrutiny of third-party vendors is increasing, banks must improve their research and monitoring of the business they outsource.

The traditional way of doing business in the branch network may be dead, but bank branches themselves will survive in some form, says Bank of the West’s Andy Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head. Bank of the West has been able to open de novo branches without hiring any additional staff, thanks to advanced technology, to meet customer demand for in-store mortgages, small-business loans and investment advice. Harmening spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

Look beyond the hype about the price of this digital currency. Because Bitcoin's not just a currency, it's also a payment system, and as such a budding challenger to PayPal, Western Union, Visa, MasterCard, and perhaps banks themselves. Whether the currency is a pot of gold or fool's gold is beside the point, argues Executive Editor Marc Hochstein. The real potential of this technology is as a set of pipes for transmitting value.