Weighted Assets
Banker & Tradesman's Banking Blog
New Year, Same You
New Year, New You? More like “second verse, same as the first.” I hate to be a Grinch about New Years (no, I don’t), but it’s that time of year again. The time of year when we optimistically promise to better ourselves – to finally lose those last 10 (or 20) pounds,...
Don’t Let Your Clients Get Spooked By Finances
Today’s guest post comes from John Navien, a financial professional in Boston with the MetLife Premier Client Group. It’s fun being scared by horror movies and costumes during Halloween season, but no financial professionals want to see their clients get...
The Cynical Millennial Weighs In On Car Ownership
“So my credit union will give me a loan on the car I want at an interest rate of 2.74 percent for up to 72 months,” my roommate said to me Friday morning. “Is that a good rate?” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I assured her that yes, that was a very good...
Chip-And-PIN Is Here! Sort Of.
A few months ago my bank sent me a letter letting me know I’d be issued a new debit card in September. As I recall, the notice included a lot of information about the switch to MasterCard and instructions for activating the new card and destroying the old one. Buried...
Budgeting For Mobile Marketing A Top Priority For 2015
Today’s guest post is from Ivan Serrano, a freelance writer. The mobile market has grown at an astonishing rate and yet many businesses still have not budgeted for mobile marketing. While the overall mobile marketing budget has increased 17.5 percent, many companies...
Tips For Small Business To Keep In Mind As We Enter 2015
Today’s guest post is from Ivan Serrano, a freelance writer. As the new year looms larger on the horizon, and the process of closing the books on the past year starts consuming resources and mind-share, it’s also necessary to make some time to take a step back and...
The Rise Of The Modern Banking Compliance Professional
Banker & Tradesman’s Weighted Assets blog now features occasional guest posts from experts in the financial industry. Today’s post is from Edmund A. Greene, a bank compliance consultant. Today’s banking compliance professional has evolved from the pariah that loan...
Online College Is Taking Women’s Education To The Next Level
ICYMI, this week’s issue of B&T features a special section on continuing education programs for bankers. And in the process of researching that article, I got to learn about a really awesome college not included in the paper, The American Women’s College (TAWC) at...
In Person Outtakes: Carol Hamilton
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Rockland Trust’s Carol Hamilton for our In Person column. At the risk of sounding biased, Carol is a pretty cool lady – and you’ll surely know this if you ever get to meet her. I first talked to her a couple weeks back...
Would you want a “do over?”
Do you have any regrets? Anything you’d like to “do over?” Well, who doesn’t? We’re all only human. When I think about the past 10 or so years of my life – roughly 30 percent of my life up to this point – there are maybe a few things I would do differently, given the...
Hey Bankers! Are You Up To The Challenge?
Leader Bank took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge this week and posted this fun little video of the soaking, which I highly recommend you take a minute (really, just one minute) to watch. President Sushil Tuli challenged other community banks in Arlington, along with...
Echoes of HarborOne? Not so fast…
If you have anything to do with banking in Massachusetts, maybe you thought of the bank formerly known as HarborOne Credit Union when you caught this little tidbit this morning, courtesy of Credit Union Times: Citing the need to deliver new business lending products...
Mass. Named One of the Best States For Financial Literacy
Happy Friday! I thought I’d share with you all, dear readers, a little bit of positive news, re: banking in the Bay State. The personal finance site Wallet Hub recently released a ranking of financial literacy by state. Massachusetts ranked among the best states for...
Furniture Friday, Fun With Alliteration…
This isn't exactly related to banking, or real estate, or just about anything else we cover here at B&T, but I thought this was pretty cool all the same... The Furniture Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing sustainable solutions for the...
Choose Your Own Adventure: Bank or Dentist?
One of the perks, I suppose, of being a reporter is that you get lots of interesting emails to sift through during a typical day. The most recent of which recounted the results of a Viacom study which found, among other things, that Millennials would rather go to the...
“If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a minute. It’ll change.”
I thought I’d escaped the drudge of writing weather stories when I left the general assignment beat at the Manchester, Conn.-based Journal Inquirer, but it’s probably inevitable the cold would creep back into my work with a winter as harsh as this one. You know it’s...
Don’t leave the front door open!
I wrote recently about a bill pending in the Massachusetts legislature relating to data breaches in the payment chain, but I wanted to share some of an interview that didn’t make it into the final piece. I met John Flory recently at BankWorld, one of The Warren...
More virtual currency news for your Friday…
We here at Banker & Tradesman are no strangers to Bitcoin. Truth be told, I often wonder if I’m in some kind of unspoken competition with David Harris to find the strangest cryptocurrency news, which he definitely won this week when he tipped me off to CoinYe...
How I mistook a Santander branch for a European-style cafe
By David L. Harris As I was walking down Federal Street today, I was surprised to see a logo that I hadn't really seen all that much. To me, the red sign with a simple red-and-white logo sticking out from 75 Federal St. had a certain minimalistic European style. The...
Here’s a face for you…
I was simultaneously fascinated and horrified at this piece of news my editor David Harris sent me a couple days ago. Pay by face. Pay. By. Face. Fascinated because wow, technology. It’s probably pretty convenient if you’re out and about and realize you need to pick...
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