Demographics

Growing income inequality is said to be a major reason most consumers plan to spend the same or less than last year on holiday shopping, and it could hurt bank and credit union revenues in the fourth quarter and present them other long-term challenges.

WASHINGTON — Promontory Financial Group announced Friday that it had given financial awards to two small institutions that are expanding banking access to the underbanked.

Eugene Danilkis, CEO of fintech startup Mambu, discusses banks' efforts to finance small and medium-size enterprises in developing countries, either indirectly (by funding microfinance organizations) or directly (by creating special lending subsidiaries unencumbered by legacy processes). He also explains how microfinance has moved beyond old stereotypes of lending to "basket weavers and fruit sellers"; why banks should heed Bill Gates' financial-inclusion message; and what the U.S. can learn from London about financial innovation.

The goal is to meet the financial education needs of everyone in the community — whether it’s the tech-savvy second-grader, the recent high school graduate getting her first checking account or a retiree learning how to stick to a fixed income.

The U.S. Postal Service offering financial services to the underserved would be a great idea. If the U.S. Postal Service weren't, you know, the U.S. Postal Service.

One could imagine a postal bank as a feeder service that brings unbanked consumers into the mainstream financial system and then graduates them to private institutions.

The Dodd-Frank Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau might end up denying crucial funds to nations emerging from war, a new study says.

Consumers deserve the kinds of high quality, widely accessible savings, credit and payments products and experiences that are critical ingredients in the recipe for financial health.

The very customer banks should be looking to for future loan and deposit growth receives more solicitations from AT&T or Sprint than she receives from her own bank.

The meaning of the term "underbanked" has evolved considerably over the last 30 years, and its definition today makes little sense.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Politicians who blindly supported restrictive AML guidelines now proclaim disgust as a global bank severs relationships with firms that send money to Somalia. But Barclays is merely exercising understandable caution.

Overregulation and elimination of short-term credit alternatives will merely hurt consumers, particularly when criticism of existing products comes with no new solutions.

Too many banks still make too much money at the expense of their customers, and it is one of the biggest reasons the American public has lost faith in them.

Providers should link their products and services to information and tools that are relevant, timely, actionable and ongoing.

Empowering the unbanked to save and invest in themselves and others, through technology as simple as text- or Tweet-to-pay, will create opportunities to get people out of poverty.

Recreating this industry involves regulation that more effectively aligns the interests of lenders and borrowers, consumer education and outreach and market-driven solutions.

Many problems with payday products are concocted by activists and politicians with mercenary intent who are more interested in squelching innovation than letting people make choices for themselves.

Revisiting the way banks, credit unions and nonbank lenders operate (and collaborate) will offer choices, protections and a path to greater financial security.

Several tech startups have made short-term credit the focus of their business models. But could a product so universally frowned upon ever achieve mainstream acceptance?