PayThink

Pious claims about the importance of free data are a smoke screen. What the fintech industry really wants is to stick banks with the bill for organizing, securing and delivering customer data on their behalf.

Noelle Acheson points out that crypto custody is about more than incorporating new assets into an established service; it's about reshaping how we see standard financial concepts and using the resulting innovations to rethink client relationships.

The agency's proposal to remove the requirement that banks provide public notice of plans to open new branches short circuits a key means of holding banks accountable for their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act.

A recent court ruling found that the Federal Reserve had grossly overstepped in its implementation of the Durbin Amendment. The resulting changes to interchange fees will dramatically shift the debit card landscape.

Congress can and should enact meaningful deposit insurance reform, but the current proposal before lawmakers is misguided. The deposit cap is excessive and the funding mechanism creates systemic risk.

After 60 years as a Fed watcher with the last 30 as a Fed critic, some would say Fed basher, Ken Thomas has developed a Q&A screening tool that President Trump should use for vetting Federal Reserve governors and the Senate should use for confirming them.

There is conclusive evidence that stablecoin adoption does not lead to deposit runoff at community banks. This should give bankers the confidence to grow their businesses by offering stablecoin-related services.

Noelle Acheson points out that central bank digital currencies are neither the threat nor the solution many seem to think. What matters is how the technology is applied.

The arguments banking trade groups are raising against granting charters to digital asset firms are the same scare tactics they used against money market funds, online brokers and fintech lenders.