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In buying the $1.5 billion-asset County Bancorp, Nicolet would become the second-largest bank in Wisconsin and the state’s No. 1 dairy lender. It's the second bank acquisition deal Nicolet has announced this quarter.

The fintech, which is going public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, has updated its logo and messaging to emphasize its capabilities in e-commerce and digital marketing. It's part of a trend of traditional payments such as TransferWise, Fattmerchant and even Mastercard repositioning themselves to win over investors.

Most credit unions don’t offer planning services, and affiliating with the No. 1 IBD could help CUNA Brokerage change that, the firm’s president says.

The huge buffers that banks built up over the pandemic are protecting the financial system from looming threats, regulators told President Biden during a meeting that also touched on climate change, extension of credit to the underserved and other topics.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a proposal this month laying out how banks should treat cryptocurrencies held on their balance sheets. It could give stablecoins, which are tied to traditional assets, an edge over more volatile digital assets like Bitcoin.

Distributed ledger projects in banking are few and far between — many have stalled and others remain experiments. Robert Townsend, who has worked with banks around the world and written a book about blockchain technology, explains some of the ways financial institutions could be using it, for instance in small-business lending and supply chain finance.

The company, which started in personal financial management, has grown quickly by helping consumers avoid overdraft fees and, more recently, adding a no-fee bank account. It's counting on a merger deal with a special-purpose acquisition company to fuel further growth.

Cannabis, though still illegal at the federal level, continues to inch into the financial mainstream. Small credit unions and lenders as large as Valley National and East West have moved beyond just taking deposits from marijuana companies.

Revolut is in the early stages of a fundraising round that could value the British company at $20 billion or more.

Beauty shops must handle transactions for multiple employees and contractors operating under one roof. Tech companies are customizing software and transaction processing services for this niche.