Fast-growing innovation is sparking bullish sentiment following a boom-and-bust cycle of the past four years.

The Buffalo bank recently shelved in-house startup GrowGrade and folded another, Nota, back into the mothership.

In a collaboration with Coinbase and Flexa, Regal theaters now accept on-chain U.S. digital currency payments for movie tickets and concessions; the Bank of Nova Scotia has completed its second investment in KeyCorp; Fiserv entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian-based payments fintech Payfare; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Fintech lenders often get criticized for high rates or fees on their consumer lending. But there's an argument to be made that the alternatives are worse.

By naming David Sacks as his "AI & Crypto Czar," Donald Trump has sent a strong signal that forward-thinking regulation of the most vibrant sector of the financial services industry could be on the way.

The Federal Reserve issued an enforcement action against Lineage Bank's holding company, following a similar move by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. earlier this year.

Fintechs and their partner banks are keen to hold the industry to high standards of regulatory compliance in the interests of everyone's reputation.

We've seen what can happen when BaaS providers fail to adequately protect consumers. Across the industry, we need to institutionalize the principles of safe banking, both inside and outside of traditional banks.

Months of painful restructuring may be paying off as the Charlottesville, Virginia-based company reported a modest third-quarter profit after more than a year of losses.

Upbound currently focuses on lease-to-own products. Brigit will help it expand its offerings, but the fintech faced an FTC complaint last year.