For the 12 institutions named as finalists in the 2013 BAI-Finacle Global Banking Innovation Awards, innovation means expanding the boundaries of traditional products and services in retail banking to improve the customer experience.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

It’s an old problem in banking but one that is hitting home now with increasing urgency: how do you boost sales in the branches? Part of the answer involves changing the roles and responsibilities of the branch staff.

Wikipedia defines the term “the elephant in the room” as referring “to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue which is obvious to everyone who knows about the situation, but which is deliberately ignored because to do otherwise would cause great embarrassment, or trigger arguments or is simply taboo.

Consumers are adopting mobile banking and payments technologies at a record pace and in real-time.

The branch has always been considered the best channel for banks to deliver personal service.

Financial institutions have relied on geocoding and location intelligence for decades to make better decisions regarding site selection and market potential.

Recent research findings reveal a big gap between financial organizations and high-performing companies when it comes to customer focus.

The “branch of the future” is a tantalizing concept pursued by nearly every large financial institution.

Wells Fargo & Co.

The second quarter of 2013 (ending in June) marked the second consecutive quarter over a six-year period that deposit balances in FDIC-insured institutions declined in response to lower interest rates.

The use of electronic bill payment at financial institution websites benefits both consumers and financial institutions.

As the traditional bank branch shrinks or even disappears in coming years, what becomes of branch staffing models? “The short answer is that everybody is making things work more efficiently and to improve engagement with the customer,” says David Hawkins, senior vice president and director of customer experience for Huntington Bancshares Inc.

Last month, Inc.

Before the downturn of the last decade, banks were minting money, but no more.

Auto lending has been on a positive trajectory for the last few years.

Revenues are growing significantly for consumer transaction account services, just not at financial institutions.

With branch transaction volumes declining more than 45% since 1992, financial institutions (FIs) are struggling to keep branches profitable.

Today, customer loyalty is more difficult to establish and maintain than ever before.

The concepts of customer engagement and employee engagement are getting a lot of attention these days.