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Time has run out for “knuckle-busters,” the clunky contraptions merchants needed for decades to accept card transactions, but their legacy—the raised characters embossed on payment cards—is proving difficult to stamp out.

Some retailers falsely think that if they are using EMV chip credit cards that they have eliminated any chance of security breaches at the register since the EMV approach is stronger than conventional credit cards.

Seeing its opening in the mobile wallet market, Mobeewave's pushing a product that exists somewhere between the models of Square and Venmo, resurrecting a relatively old idea of having people pay each other by using their phones.

The month of March produced a broad-based seasonal boost that propelled the Index of Banking Activity to its highest level since June, 2015. The IBA's 59.1 reading in March was buoyed by strong improvements in metrics that track loan applications and approvals and — for the first time in many months — a noticeable rise in the component that monitors banks' staffing levels. In all, 12 of the 16 components of the IBA improved on levels reported in the February survey, with most of the remainder steady to slightly lower. (Commercial loan rejections were the one exception: the decline in this component was driven mainly by an increase in rejections in the Midwest, where application growth was strongest.) In addition, only one component score — a 49.3 reading in the deposit-pricing indicator — failed to surpass the 50-point level indicative of expansionary activity in the industry. Improvements in overall business activity were evident across all geographic regions. Respondents in the Midwest reported the most dramatic gains in lending-related activities, while bankers in the South region were the most bullish on the question of hiring. In addition, survey participants in both the Midwest and South regions reported significant improvements in their markets' respective real estate and local business conditions.

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Banks have long struggled with how to better serve the underbanked and unbanked. Here's a roundup of some strategies that are working and some fresh ideas that are in the offing.

Lending Club, Prosper Marketplace and Funding Circle are locking arms to create a new trade group that will represent the marketplace lending industry in Washington.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO used his annual letter to shareholders to once again defend big banks and their role in the economy.

First Interstate BancSystem in Billings, Mont., announced its third deal in two years as it inched closer to $10 billion of assets.

The majority of first-time homebuyers plan to skip the starter-home step and move straight into the home that would meet their long-term needs, according to the Homebuyer Insights Report from Bank of America.

Bank of New York Mellon has hired a new chief operating officer for its markets business.