The above is a synthesis of CFSI’s conference based on Twitter posts over the past couple days.  Not nearly as amazing as the event, but a couple things strike me: “great” is the only very frequent word that’s not a basic descriptor of the event (like conference, consumer, financial).  “CFPB” gets major props, as does “GoalMine” and the “Core Challenge” among more generic terms (prepaid, product, today, NOLA).  Yet, no other companies rose to the top.

Regardless of this Tweitgeist, it was a landmark event.  We welcomed CFSI’s Compass Principles, and said goodbye to the industry pioneer, Jane Thompson.  We packed the room to discuss the elephant (short-term lending), and unpacked Donkey-led regulation.  We were over 600 strong, including guests as close as the Ninth Ward and as far flung as Kenya.  Speaking of, we learned why the cutting edge (mobile payments) will be slow to take hold, and why the old (cash) is here to stay.  We laughed with Steve Streit and we laughed at Wall Street.  We filled every suite in the hotel and emptied every drink at Chexar’s reception.  With the benefit of philanthropic support we talked a lot about using market forces to create long-term value.  There appeared to be more banks and credit unions, more check-cashers and payday lenders, more regulators, too.  And they mingled, postured, drank together and debated.  The ceilings were way too low, yet our comprehension of most powerpoint slides was… er, low, too.   Jane Thompson encouraged us to ask, “how little can we charge?” when serving poor people. Roy Sosa encouraged me to think way bigger than the US.

My personal key take away, though, came from Jennifer Teschers’ keynote, and was reinforced independently by quite a few others: let’s create the greatest economic value by delivering the best, long-term consumer value.  In contrast to achieving short-term profit without real consumer value or pursuing “good” as an externality (social responsibility).  All this inspired by… lipstick.