BankThink

Many community banks seem to have forgotten that they are most valuable for their ability to identify customers' pain and put an end to it. But fierce competition from fintech startups like Lending Club and Kabbage offers a reminder that they cannot afford to disregard this reality.

Families that use state-issued EBT cards often face ATM fees that eat away at their already-meager incomes. Banks should waive those fees in order to ensure that all public assistance dollars go toward household needs.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Global Market Crisis: The massive stock market sell-off that began on Friday (the Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst Friday in more than five years) continued Monday morning, with global markets tanking on a wide range of concerns. Time will tell whether comments made by traders are overblown, but a money manager in Germany told Bloomberg, "Everyone seems to be selling off, and there's panic. There's no rational choice anymore, no rational reaction."...

Wall Street Journal

JPMorgan Chase has hired a recently retired general as senior adviser. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno will offer the bank advice on cybersecurity as well as the physical risks involved in operating in a range of countries. The paper reports that Ordierno served in the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars and worked closely with Gen. David Petraeus on the 2007 military surge in Iraq. ...

There's nothing like a natural disaster to make people realize how important insurance is to the banking industry.