Scott Hamilton - Community Author: Finextra Research

The 'good stuff' happening in sustainable lending in the US

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

The 'good stuff' happening in sustainable lending in the US

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by the US Congress in 2022 and signed into law by President Biden, is working as intended, and America’s major banks are getting onboard with sustainable lending. That’s what we’re hearing from leaders of the financial institution wing of Boston-based Ceres – the nonprofit advocacy organisation formed in ...

30 September 2024 /sustainable

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

US cheque dependency: Time for a change

The US leads the way in cheque usage among most countries across the globe, with about 11 billion items issued according to the most recent in-depth study available (2021). That’s a dubious honour, to be sure, though that annual item number has continued to drop over the past three years. Only France got anywhere close to the US in terms of per c...

16 September 2024 /retail

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

US cheque dependency: How we got here

Why does the US lead the world in the use of paper cheques? And why haven’t these traditional payment instruments simply ‘gone away’ given all the tremendous advances that have been forged in the financial services ecosystem, especially over the past 20 years or so? In many countries, they simply don’t exist at all, and in some, financial institut...

10 September 2024 /retail

Connecting the dots between sustainability and banking

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Connecting the dots between sustainability and banking

Sustainability – at least as a loosely defined concept - has been a focus for financial institutions since the early 2000s, when concerns about the effects of global warming skyrocketed worldwide. In some arenas, interest in confronting and adapting to changes in climate and society started growing well before that. Has that focus paid off in the ...

27 August 2024 /sustainable

What the US open banking rule means for consumers, FIs, and fintechs

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

What the US open banking rule means for consumers, FIs, and fintechs

Interest is growing quickly - no doubt accompanied by some deep-seated indigestion as well - as US financial institutions, fintechs, and related service providers await the expected release of a key new US rule on Open Banking (Section 1033). While most agree it will bring positive advances for consumer data control and protection to the customer ...

15 August 2024 /regulation

How US Inflation Reduction Act funds IRS high income taxpayer collections

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

How US Inflation Reduction Act funds IRS high income taxpayer collections

As we continue to explore the potential outcomes of the US presidential election on financial institutions and fintechs, it seemed like a suitable time to take a second look at income taxes, one of the key components of every company’s financial planning and ongoing management. Turns out, a particular piece of two-year old climate change mitigatio...

09 August 2024 /regulation

US regulators' warnings on bank-fintech partnerships: how they can benefit the industry

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

US regulators' warnings on bank-fintech partnerships: how they can benefit the industry

There’s a right way and a wrong way to build and manage bank-fintech business relationships. Well, make that many ways to do both, as there are several critically important factors and practices that need to be considered (and monitored) in every such relationship, no matter its specific goals and structure. Over the past several weeks, vexing exa...

01 August 2024 /regulation

US Elections 2024: Despite candidate whirlwind fiscal policies remain unclear

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

US Elections 2024: Despite candidate whirlwind fiscal policies remain unclear

With the blockbuster news of US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from candidacy for re-election on 21 July, the American political scene has been thrown into a veritable tornado of constant on and off-screen media and pundit posturing and unvalidated speculation on topics from A to Z. What has changed in terms of potential impacts to financial ser...

26 July 2024 /regulation

How APIs can unlock huge value for banks and their treasury customers

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

How APIs can unlock huge value for banks and their treasury customers

When corporate and banking institution systems communicate, it’s all about easier, faster, and more. Data is the product, and Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs) are becoming the ‘golden key’ to sharing it for accounts, transactions, and reporting on both. At the NW Summit of the Association for Financial Professionals, experts from both worl...

22 July 2024 /wealth

UK and US elections 2024: How inflation and perceptions are influencing votes

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

UK and US elections 2024: How inflation and perceptions are influencing votes

In the UK, it’s contributed to “consumers addicted to ‘financial doomscrolling’ fuelled by economic angst”, according to a recent survey by FIS. In the US, it’s marked by an electorate feeling ‘shakier’ about the economy and licking their wounds from previously soaring post-pandemic prices across nearly every buying category. What are we talking...

01 July 2024 /markets

UK and US elections 2024: The impact on finance and fintech

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

UK and US elections 2024: The impact on finance and fintech

As we head into national general elections in the US and Europe over the coming months, many financial institutions and fintechs are wondering just what it would mean to their operational and profit models if one of the incumbent national leaders wins, or if a current lead candidate or likely candidate (in the case of the prime minister in the UK,...

18 June 2024 /markets

Why treasury teams should help lead sustainability policies and reporting

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Why treasury teams should help lead sustainability policies and reporting

Corporate finance and treasury teams need to be ready, willing, and able to assist – rather than simply rail against – compliance with new carbon and methane emissions reporting requirements, and even consider assisting their companies’ response to social impacts and related regulations, explained sustainable investment expert Taylor Anderson. And...

13 June 2024 /sustainable

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