Beyond highlighting the positive role community banks serve in funding small businesses, the Federal Reserve Bank's Small Business Credit Survey uncovers opportunities for greater engagement with customers through payment products and services, such as credit cards.

Tina Giorgio: Whether I’m working with banking professionals or with entrepreneurs in the fintech space, I have one key piece of advice: I ask, “What is your why?” and encourage them to focus on that response. Because, when they home in on that, everything else falls into place.

Tina Giorgio: There are many factors involved in creating a successful real-time payment system and one of those factors is education. This month I have invited Steve Ledford from The Clearing House to share some information about real-time payments and to provide an FAQ about the RTP® network. Steve is the senior vice president of products and strategy at The Clearing House.