American Banker Magazine - February 2019

Thanks to big tech companies, the business world is moving to third-party platforms, or online marketplaces where buyers pull sellers' products off digital shelves. A growing number of financial institutions — including BBVA, Citi and community banks like Eastern — say they can't afford to sit out the trend.

Banks that gather deposits through branches generally pay lower deposit premiums than those that solicit deposits online. So what happens if long-standing restrictions on brokered deposits are relaxed?

CEOs on the hot seat. Banks fighting to stay independent. Comfortable players ripe for disruption from Amazon and others. It is shaping up as a riveting year.

Among the most innovative CEOs of his generation, the former Umpqua chief and Pivotus founder is taking some of his best ideas to a new fintech as an adviser.

Student loan debt — now at $1.5 trillion in the U.S. — is arguably the greatest pain point for consumers in their 20s and 30s. To court that demographic, banks are increasingly offering help with refinancing and repayment.

Investments in software can speed up decision-making and help traditional lenders better compete with fintechs for creditworthy customers who want their loans quickly.

In venturing into what's normally a province of large banks, nbkc in Kansas City, Mo., discovered innovative tax-management and other products that it could offer to its own customers or sell to other banks.

The online lender will roll out the business early next year with a focus on loans of less than $100,000.

The software, which was developed by Feedzai, will eventually block payments that appear to be fraudulent or mistaken.

Issuers should take seriously critics’ claims that they need to monitor the sale of guns more closely, before policymakers force the issue.