BankThink

Many assumed the advent of cryptocurrencies heralded a revolution in finance. The truth may be that crypto's overall impact on the financial services industry is more evolutionary than revolutionary.

The populist backlash from the Great Financial Crisis turned the financial regulatory world upside down. Fifteen years later, that populist force is still informing how people vote, how financial regulation is crafted and how regulators see themselves.

Federal regulators need to mandate full disclosure of total costs for international money transfers, including all exchange rate markups, and to allow nonbanks access to the Fed's payment system.

Any approval of the proposed Capital One-Discover merger must come with a pro-competitive 1% interchange fee condition to benefit consumers and small businesses and challenge the dominating duopolist Visa, and a pro-community 5% deposit reinvestment condition.

In an increasingly cashless society, having a basic bank account ought to be an inalienable right. Instead, we have a system that deliberately prevents millions of Americans from making even the simplest transactions.

The Federal Reserve, historically a secretive and isolated institution, has made a concerted effort to explain itself to and be understood by the public since 2008. But try as it might, the central bank is still viewed by many as an enigma, if not an enemy.

The CFPB should change its proposal and allow fintechs and other financial services companies the same freedom to innovate that entrenched large banks already enjoy.

Weekend direct deposit would benefit workers, consumers and businesses. The Federal Reserve itself said it was in favor of such an expansion nearly a decade ago. There is no better time than now.

A federal judge's ruling in the Custodia lawsuit settles — for now — the question of whether the Federal Reserve has the discretion to grant or deny a bank access to its payment settlement system. But to keep it, the Fed needs to articulate the danger it's protecting against.

The agency's abuse of criminal investigative demands, with no recourse of overburdened small businesses, is yet another example of why it is viewed as a rogue agency, unaccountable to anyone.