Penny Crosman

Aaron Klein, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, argues that the setup works well for those with money, but is very expensive for those on the lower end of the spectrum.

In every segment except people older than 64, a majority would consider banking with Apple, Google, Amazon or Facebook, a new survey finds.

Observers speculate that Intuit simply wants to enhance revenue and protect its tax software business, but the CEOs of each company say the deal would also give consumers more control of their overall finances.

Intuit has agreed to buy Credit Karma for $7.1 billion. The move is seen as a way for Intuit to get access to more consumer behavior data, generate new sources of income and potentially protect a key business.

The heads of the two companies explain how the deal came about, what hurdles they face and how they plan to mash up their very different operations.

Akoya has been building a data-sharing network that gives fintechs access to bank account data through application programming interfaces as an alternative to screen scraping. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Capital One are among its new owners.

The move comes as the fintech tries to shake off criticism that its main products are payday loans by another name.

Consumer advocates and policymakers are railing against use of the technology by government, universities and others. Banks using it for authentication need to tread cautiously, experts say.

"To wake up one day and assume everyone in America is going to be above average at math and above average rational is crazy," says Ethan Bloch, whose app is designed to help people achieve financial health.

The startup spawned in Eastern Bank's innovation lab says its bank customers asked for client-friendly software for account opening, credit cards and more types of commercial lending.