Miriam Cross

Personalized advice, embedded finance and virtual branches are among the initiatives financial services companies have on their drawing boards for the coming year.

First Premier Bank in South Dakota revamped its online sign-up process to allow customers to name the banker who referred them. This helps bankers overcome their reluctance about digital accounts and lets them start relationships with new customers.

The mission of the North Carolina company, founded by banks to archive digital images of checks, has evolved over the last 20 years. It is migrating to a public cloud to help it expand beyond check services.

PNC, Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citi have all introduced automated projections for commercial clients in recent months. Fintechs that cater to small businesses had pioneered the niche.

Asenso Finance and a community development financial institution, the National Asian American Coalition, have developed a loan aimed at borrowers with limited credit histories. The underwriting relies in part on alternative data and borrowers are required to take financial literacy courses.

The fintech, which provides crypto custody services to financial institutions and recently obtained a national trust bank charter, will use its Series D funding to increase the size of its team and strengthen its infrastructure.

Banks in Mastercard's True Name program, which allows transgender and nonbinary customers to get cards bearing their preferred name, often use those customers' legal names elsewhere. Three challenger banks have made adaptations to achieve greater consistency across all communication channels.

By acquiring First Sound Bank in Seattle, the fintech would control the strategic direction of the combined company and won't have to share revenue, CEO Luvleen Sidhu says.

Fiserv, FIS, Jack Henry and Finastra, the top U.S. core banking software providers, are stepping up efforts to let banks plug innovative technology from younger fintechs into their legacy systems.

The New York Innovation Center aims to help central banks to explore cutting-edge financial technologies and ways for supervision to keep pace with them.