The U.S. challenger bank and the startup STC Pay aim to create a special blend of banking services for millions of tech-savvy, cash-averse consumers in Saudi Arabia.

E-commerce firms and payment apps can reach new users and investors through crowdfunding, says Prime Trust's Bruce Dyer.

The addition of Maria Renz shows how much emphasis the San Francisco fintech is putting on operations and customer experience.

As the fintech industry looks for ways to bring on more women, crossover hiring — recruiting from traditional financial services firms to fintechs — has emerged as an effective strategy, Donna Parisi of Shearman & Sterling and Michelle Tran of NYC Fintech Women write.

The Amazon effect in financial services will be much bigger than the one experienced by the retail industry—it will have a deeper impact due to the financial services industry being bigger and more vulnerable, and because consumers are now more comfortable with change, says TigerGraph's Todd Blaschka.

Firms such as Afterpay that offer financing to shoppers have been enjoying rapid growth. But their model is under scrutiny from regulators, being mimicked by credit card lenders and faces heightened risks in a downturn.

As the fintech industry looks for ways to boost the number of women, crossover hiring – recruiting from traditional financial service firms to fintechs – has emerged as an effective strategy, according to Shearman & Sterling's Donna Parisi and NYC Fintech Women's Michelle Tran.

The agency's recent update to its guidelines for banks on working with data aggregators and other third parties was not extreme, but some critics say its heavy emphasis on security could be a setback for open banking.

The credit education provider plans to use its deep knowledge of credit scoring to advise account holders on how to improve their scores and cash management simultaneously.

Mobile financial network provider Rapyd is embedding its open development tools with Brazilian processors to support payments in any local method.