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The 75 banks that earned a spot on our fifth annual ranking of the Best Banks to Work For could inspire you with their ideas for creating a culture of both positivity and high performance.

Acquisitions are disruptive by nature, but some banks excel at maximizing M&A value by minimizing friction. Here’s what the active acquirers among our Best Banks to Work For know that others might not.

The Best Banks to Work For study is a collaboration between American Banker and the Best Companies Group, which conducts extensive employee surveys and reviews employer reports on benefits and policies.

An episode of "Oprah" changed how this North Dakota bank thinks about corporate giving. But the way it distributes donations is not the only thing that sets it apart. Call Michael Solberg crazy if you want, but he says the results validate Bell's philosophy of generosity.

The advancement that we are seeing in terms of API Banking in the payments domain makes it evident that the overall banking system is moving toward an open banking framework, writes Satya Swarup Das, a senior architect for the global banking practice at Virtusa.

The uplifting story of another Virginia statue — this one honoring the first black female to charter a bank — is well-timed. Plus, JPMorgan Chase's O'Connor on laboring over Libor and U.S. Bank's Lawler on getting people to do the right thing.

The Swiss bank got involved in microfinance in a counterintuitive way: at the behest of its wealthiest clients. Technology has made lending in small rural villages more efficient and profitable.

Beverly Anderson, who had held the job on an interim basis since March, leads a unit that has been roiled by the bank's unauthorized-accounts scandal.

Alternative currency investments are volatile. Another way to look at the market's sustainability is the willingness of participants to stick with this new mode of payments, writes Mariam Nishanian, a representative for Dentacoin, a virtual currency for the dental industry.

As marketing becomes more expensive, issuers are under pressure to find new ways to lure merchants, according to Eric Marks and Sean Clark from West Monroe Partners.

Contactless payments today seem to address the slowness of EMV contact without compromising security. And unbeknownst to many, it uses the same security protocol, writes Andrey Tikhonov, senior director of payment technology for Infinite Peripherals.

With the right focus and a little bit of pre-work, many companies can leverage ISO 20022 as the new global standard, writes Kate Risch Choi, a senior product manager for treasury and payment solutions at BMO Harris Bank.

Banking lobbies are still opposed to the Durbin Amendment, which would hurt a free market, writes Mark Horwedel, CEO of the Merchant Advisory Group.

As payments guru David Birch notes, multiple currencies spur competition and innovation, and can reduce stagnation, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

Distribution methods are constantly changing and being altered so that the maximum amount of people can gain access to these unregulated currencies, writes Mariam Nishanian, a representative at Dentacoin.

Removing friction across channels and payment types not only leads to a transformative digital banking experience, it also helps ensure those positive outcomes translate to business success for financial institutions, writes Mark Little, senior user experience researcher for digital channels at Fiserv.

A recent tribute to Maggie Walker came more than a century after she founded St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Va. But it fittingly coincided with the first anniversary of the #BankBlack movement and offers a counterweight to the racial strife that just occurred less than 100 miles away in Charlottesville.

Knowledge picked up from the best customer-facing staff should be delivered by AI systems in a contextual manner at the right place and the right time to handle customer queries in the age of digital commerce, writes Anand Subramaniam, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for eGain Corp.

Shopping cart technology, digital payments, advertising platforms and global order fulfillment allow new brands to compete on a global scale, writes Tony Holbrook, vice president of marketing and commerce at Ingram Micro Commerce & Fulfillment.

Sanger is out at Wells Fargo and so it is a crisis that gives us our first female board chair at a major U.S. bank. Women lead two major tech initiatives at JPMorgan Chase, which is also adding a fourth woman to its executive committee.