The Latest

The 50 companies that made American Banker’s annual list are being recognized for establishing strong workplace cultures, offering robust benefits packages and giving employees the room to do their jobs well.

Companies on the Best Places to Work in Fintech list offer sabbaticals or generous vacation time, which helps attract young talent and lets veteran employees re-energize.

Breaking barriers to education unites the team at Mpower Financing, an international student loan company with employees from more than a dozen countries that is ranked No. 1 on this year's Best Places to Work in Fintech.

Phani Ilapakurty is the president of Mueller dotKonnect, which is a related entity of PKF Mueller, a CPA and business advisory firm that serves clients both domestically and internationally. MDK specializes in business process management, business process outsourcing and tax services, backed by a team of 300-plus finance, accounting & tax professionals located in Chicago, Dallas, Portland, Philadelphia, Sarasota and in Hyderabad, India. Ilapakurty is a Chartered Accountant, a Cost & Management accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner and an Enrolled Agent, with more than 20 years of consulting, finance & accounting industry experience. He is also the co-founder of Qount.io, a SaaS practice management solution to improve, automate and streamline accounting & tax practices to positively impact the bottom line. Reach him at phani.i@muellerdotkonnect.com.

Caleb Jenkins began his career at RLJ Financial Services and leads the outsourced tax planning & business accounting services team. He has been recognized as a Top Up-N-Comer ProAdvisor and Top 40 Under 40 in the accounting profession, and serves on numerous councils including the Intuit ProConnect Customer Tax Council and the ADP Accountants Advisory Board. Reach him via email at caleb@rljfinancial.com. 

Cathy Beardsley, the CEO of Segpay, and Christiaan Brand, a security expert from Google, discuss how to overcome the hurdles that are still in the way of cryptocurrencies being widely used for payments.

Higher fees, illiquidity and lack of transparency raise questions about suitability.

A career path in financial services doesn't have to be linear, says Walmart's Julia Unger.

Shoring up fiduciary obligations under ERISA would be a much-needed protection for investors.

Stephen W. Hall currently serves as the legal director and securities specialist for Better Markets. He joined Better Markets in January of 2011, bringing extensive experience in securities and commodities regulation acquired through positions in the federal government, private practice and the nonprofit sector.

In addition to overseeing legal activities, including litigation matters and amicus briefs on behalf of Better Markets, he is heavily involved in the preparation of regulatory analysis, comment letters on proposed rules, and special reports on topics related to financial regulation and enforcement.