Innovation in financial services faces a hurdle in the narrow, short-term profit motives of predatory patent trolls. Here is what startups can do to ward off attacks.

While banks should be wary of potential restrictions on the H-1B visa program, policymakers should be mindful of the consequences of limiting H-1B visas too severely.

Technology startups diving into mortgage lending are doing a lot of things well … except servicing, warned a mortgage industry consultant who has advised them.

Cutting-edge jobs — think chief innovation, strategy and data officers — are on the rise at banks and other lenders, and they are drawing free-thinking, tech-savvy candidates from inside and outside of financial services. American Banker asked several of them to recommend a book or other piece of writing that helped them tackle jobs that often were created from scratch.

Capital continues to flow freely into financial technology ventures, many of which are repositioning themselves as aspiring partners for banks rather than would-be disruptors.

Traditional banks are not likely to match the nimbleness of a fintech startup for a whole variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean all is lost.

Community banks are at a crossroads as they face a threat from alternative lenders and the need to stay true to the traditional bank model. What they should do?

The idea of financial institutions resembling utilities has caught on with some industry observers for reasons other than reducing systemic risk.

Airbnb, the company that disrupted the hospitality industry as Uber did to taxis, is sidling up to the fintech space.

Suddenly, online lenders are struggling, or paying higher prices, to attract the institutional money that has fueled their rapid rise.

Retail banks must reinvent the way they charge consumers for their services at a time when institutions are struggling for profitability.

Affirm, a three-year-old online lender that finances consumer purchases at the point of sale, has raised a $100 million in equity funding to help it boost distribution and develop new products and services.

The partnership with OnDeck will allow the megabank to approve and fund loans in as little as a day, according to CEO Jamie Dimon. Meanwhile, OnDeck is eyeing similar partnerships with other banks.

Before banks are truly integrated into the digital landscape, they must break down data silos and implement steps to make data more accurate and actionable.

The New York company makes two- to three-year term loans of between $3,000 and $25,000. It is seeking to distinguish itself from other digital lenders by targeting young adults who have limited credit histories.

Banks are slowly warming up to the idea of open APIs, essentially tools that allow banks to easily connect with others, but BBVA's Shamir Karkal says that they will likely also push banks to modernize their core systems.

Federal rules for technology-based firms providing the fast-moving sector certainty and consistency would be a benefit, even if rules are suboptimal.

Delaware, whose business-friendly laws have lured more than half the country's publicly traded corporations and more than 60% of the Fortune 500 to incorporate in the state, is now vying to become a hub for blockchain technology.

Recent devaluations of startups and other signs of trouble do not mean the end of fintech upheaval but rather the start of acquisitions and other repositioning to advance stability.

An 11-page paper by the agency signaled its intent to take a higher-profile role in ensuring that regulators are not inappropriately hampering banks' adoption of new technologies to reach customers, while also keeping an eye out that institutions are able to handle the risks involved.