Methodology

This page describes the editorial process behind Retail Bank: the sourcing standards, the review cycle, the handling of contested claims, and the absence of paid placement. The standards are stricter than typical commercial financial-content sites and are modelled on the practices of federal-agency consumer guides and major reference works.

Sourcing standard

Every concrete legal claim on the site is tied to a regulation by name and CFR section (for example, "12 CFR Part 1005 (Regulation E), §1005.6 on consumer liability for unauthorized transfers"). Every statistical or institutional claim is supported by a numbered Sources list at the end of the article, naming the primary source. The primary sources we use are:

• Federal regulators: FDIC, NCUA, OCC, CFPB, Federal Reserve Board, FFIEC, FinCEN, OFAC.
• Federal statutes via the U.S. Code on Cornell's Legal Information Institute or the Government Publishing Office.
• Federal regulations via the eCFR.
• Treasury Department publications and bureaus.
• Federal court decisions where they affect the consumer-banking framework.
• Government Accountability Office and Congressional Research Service reports.
• Peer-reviewed academic publications on consumer finance.
• Industry rulebooks where they function as binding rules (Nacha's ACH Operating Rules, the card networks' published interchange schedules).

We do not cite as primary sources: commercial financial publications, blog posts, brokerage research, bank-issued white papers (except as supplementary corroboration for claims also supported by primary sources), or other websites whose accuracy we cannot independently verify. Where a secondary source has compiled primary data into a more usable form (the Pew Charitable Trusts' work on bank disclosure, for example), we may cite it for the compiled-data claim but separately link to the underlying primary source.

Verification standard

Every dollar figure, date-sensitive claim, and quantitative assertion on the site is dated. The phrase "as of [Month Year]" appears throughout the articles where the underlying number could change. The standard maximum FDIC insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor per insured bank per ownership category as of May 2026; the Regulation CC first-$275 next-business-day floor took effect July 1, 2025; the prevailing prime rate is variable; and so on. Where a figure is critical to a decision, we encourage the reader to verify against the cited primary source before relying on it.

We do not fabricate. If we are uncertain about a specific number, we describe the uncertainty rather than guessing — for example, "verify against the most recent FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile for current institution counts." We do not invent court cases, statistics, or quotes; where a specific case or quote is cited, it is verifiable in the cited source. Where the article references a study or research finding, the underlying study is cited.

Reviewer process

Each reference article goes through three stages before publication:

1. Drafting: by a writer with subject-matter familiarity, working from the relevant primary sources rather than from secondary syntheses.
2. Substantive review: by an editor with deeper subject-matter expertise (typically including current or former banking-law practitioners, financial journalists, or academic researchers). The review covers accuracy, completeness, and consistency with the rest of the site.
3. Final read: by an editor focused on voice, clarity, and compliance with the site's editorial conventions.

Articles are reviewed at least annually on a rolling basis, with the "Last reviewed" date updated to reflect the most recent review. Articles touching topics in active regulatory motion (overdraft, open banking, partner-bank arrangements, the 2024 CFPB rulemakings) are reviewed more frequently. Articles on stable topics (the basic FDIC insurance framework, the structure of the Federal Reserve) are reviewed annually but typically require fewer substantive updates.

Handling of contested claims

Many topics in consumer banking are genuinely contested — among legal experts, among regulators, among academics, among policymakers. Where the contested character of a claim affects what a reader should rely on, we say so. The phrase "is contested" appears in articles on the appropriate level of overdraft fees, the U.S. trajectory on real-time payments, the systemic-risk exception, the future of the partner-bank model, and many other topics. We do not pretend that a settled answer exists where one does not.

For essays — the four pages in /essays/ — we take a position. The lede of each essay states the claim being argued; the essay then advances the argument with evidence cited to primary sources; and a labeled "counter-argument" section addresses the strongest version of the opposing view. The essays are signed "by the editors" rather than by individual authors, but they represent the site's editorial position, not the personal views of any specific contributor.

Where a reader disagrees with a position taken in an essay or with a factual claim in a reference article, the corrections-policy page describes the process for raising the dispute.

What we do not do

The site has a deliberately narrow scope. We do not provide:

• Personal financial advice. The articles describe how things work; the reader decides.
• Rankings or recommendations of specific institutions. We do not list "best banks," "best savings accounts," "best credit cards."
• Affiliate links or commission-based product placement. The site earns no commercial revenue from any specific recommendation.
• Time-sensitive market commentary. We are not a news site or a market-update service.
• Coverage of investment products beyond their relationship to retail banking. The site is about consumer deposits, payments, and credit; investments, insurance, and tax planning are not its scope.
• Coverage of non-U.S. banking systems beyond brief comparative reference where the comparison is illuminating.

Use of AI

The articles on this site are not generated by language models. Research, drafting, editing, and review are conducted by human writers and editors. We may use AI tools for non-editorial tasks (citation verification, dead-link checking, search-engine-optimization metadata generation) where they do not affect the editorial content. The site's content is intended for human readers and is also intended to be reliably citeable by AI assistants that may surface it; we have written with both audiences in mind.

Citation and reuse

The site's content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). Readers and other publications are free to copy, adapt, and reuse the content, including for commercial purposes, provided attribution is given. The attribution should include the article title, the site name (Retail Bank), and a link to the original article URL. For substantial reuses, we appreciate (but do not require) being told about the use.