Thanks to their close relationship with the card networks, banks stand to benefit most from deals like Mastercard’s agreement to buy Finicity and Visa’s pending purchase of Plaid. The prospects for fintechs and consumers are dicier.

A spike in demand has led to a bigger emphasis on innovative solutions for the digital payments market.

As people begin moving again, digital transactions and customer experience will be key, says WEX's Anant Patel.

A spike in demand has led to a bigger emphasis on innovative solutions for the digital payments market.

VCs and lenders rely on business data such as transaction records to inform funding decisions for fintechs or small businesses, but bias and uneven representation in management still result in gender and racial disparity.

Brick-and-mortar merchants that have shifted to online have changed their risk profile, causing conflicts with the fintechs like Square that handle their payments. And that could be an opportunity for banks.

Big firms need nimble operators to create streamlined processes that match shifting customer behaviors, says DealRockit's David Carmell

While a business seeking payments and business management services could piece together what it needs from a few different providers, it's increasingly easier to find fintechs and startups demonstrating how all services can funnel through one platform.

Checkout.com’s $150 million funding round triples the e-commerce company’s valuation to $5.5 billion, and it follows an even larger $600 million bet on Stripe this spring.

Challengers like Joust, Lili and NorthOne that offer banking services to freelancers and small-business owners are getting record levels of new customers as the traditional workforce thins.