Giltner added a zinger however: “Who knew when we built online banking that we would become portals where others access the data we built up at great expense, for free?” His point is that access to real-time financial info of individuals is key to how many non-banks operate – they win the consumer approval to access the data – but the financial institutions are paying the way for this information exchange.

The one bright spot for traditional financial institutions was the comment from David Mills, a senior Federal Reserve Bank executive, that the day may come when Congress chooses not to regulate companies but instead to regulate activities. Were that to happen, at least some of what nonbanks do would likely fall under regulatory oversight.

When might that day come? Mills offered no prediction – and panel attendees were left with a picture of ever more revenues being siphoned away by nonbanks who, as Kline stressed, “work harder to understand their customers and their needs.”