Banking Circle US is the first company to use Connecticut's uninsured bank charter for wholesale and merchant activities. This kind of charter makes sense for payments firms, but questions persist about overall viability.

Bellwether Community Credit Union's partnership with the New York ad tech firm Prizeout is working to build out gift card programs and generate added sources of non-interest income.

In an ongoing case, Citi and the New York attorney general are disputing who is responsible for wire transfer fraud that drained a customer's retirement savings.

Recent months have seen an uptick in enforcement actions against banks engaging in banking-as-a-service strategies. Observers are split on whether that enhanced scrutiny is temporary or terminal.