The Wilmington, North Carolina-based institution is pursuing a model that cuts out the middleman and embeds its services directly into fintech partners' platforms.

Investing in data governance, compliance and staffing appropriately can help manage the risks of offering banking as a service, experts say.

New funding would increase valuations for both firms, reversing a slump that has impacted the entire industry for the past two years.

Financial institutions that entered the space before regulatory oversight intensified need to calculate whether the price of talent, risk planning and technology is worth the return.

Fostering financial well-being among the country's fastest-growing demographic group is essential to the future of the American economy. And, not incidentally, it's also good for business.

While the federal banking agencies are not changing any current rules, they issued a joint statement Thursday cautioning banks about risks in third-party deposit partnerships. They are also seeking public input on bank-fintech partnerships more generally.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reversed itself, declaring that earned wage access programs, which conduct no underwriting and charge no interest, are loans. This is a disservice to the industry and consumers.

America must never cease to be the global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. However, when it comes to bank-fintech relationships, politics and misguided regulatory forces threaten the very foundation of that innovative spirit and limit consumer choice.

Nine international fintech companies are participating in the credit card network's accelerator program.

Financial services supervisors should revisit the concept of regulatory sandboxes. Doing so would allow fintechs to gain needed experience in the world of banking, while fostering innovation.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said the OCC will review its 2020 interpretation of preemption under the Dodd-Frank Act and explore more direct engagement, tailored federal regulation and supervision of nonbank fintechs.

The megabank is working with the digital lending fintech Numerated to automate transferring and analyzing important financial data from borrowers.

Fizz offers a card that enables undergrads to slowly build a debt record based on healthy spending habits, providing an alternative as regulators pressure how financial services are marketed to that demographic.

Evergreen Money offers affluent savers both high returns and ready access to their money. The startup's founder, former PayPal CEO Bill Harris, says that increased regulatory scrutiny of bank-fintech partnerships is a positive development.

GrabrFi, a challenger bank for freelancers outside of the U.S., has found both hurdles and opportunities by working with banking-as-a-service middleware vendors.

The Federal Reserve's top regulator praised industry efforts to expand access to banking services, but warned about financial stability risks.

Reconciliation problems normally don't happen on the scale that is playing out with Synapse and its partner banks. But banks and their fintech partners can do a better job of communicating the realities of accessing financial services through nonbank entities.

With the line between banks and fintechs growing ever blurrier, financial services supervisors ought to consider adjusting regulation to fit the kinds of activity an institution is engaged in.

In this month's roundup of top banking news: a cease-and-desist issued by the Federal Reserve, high CFO turnover, the end of Chevron deference and more.