The motivation behind JPMorgan Chase's purchase of rewards company cxLoyalty is clear — travel spending and rewards have suffered greatly during the pandemic — but another problem Chase is tackling with this acquisition is the need to wean people off cash rewards.

Fallout from the coronavirus pandemic consumed the industry this year, but other events, including a scandal at the National Credit Union Administration and a credit union under fire for lack of board diversity, also made waves.

The year 2020 was disruptive and chaotic. And while it derailed or delayed some companies' plans for growth, it also created opportunities for new combinations — or, at the very least, didn't slow them down.

JPMorgan Chase is buying cxLoyalty, a major credit card loyalty platform, in a bid to enrich its own card loyalty programs when travel resumes after the global pandemic.

A look back at a year in which little went according to plan for credit unions.

Members of $6.3 million-asset FIAFE Federal Credit Union will vote early next year on whether to merge into $43 million-asset Central Credit Union of Maryland.

Square Inc., the digital-payment company run by Jack Dorsey, has held talks to acquire the music-streaming service Tidal as part of a push to diversify, according to a person familiar with the situation.

One engineered a big M&A deal, another struggled with his bank's credit issues and another abruptly resigned. Here are their stories and more.

Riverside Health System Employees Credit Union has announced plans to merge into the Yorktown-based credit union, which is roughly 100 times its size.

The company will pay $20 million in cash for a bank with two branches and $58 million of loans.

The $10 billion portfolio of what are described as high-quality private student loans will be serviced by Nelnet.

Starting in 2022, hundreds of newly eligible institutions will be able to raise funds from investors. Bankers argued that the change will further blur the line between the two industries.

The latest monthly Trends Report from CUNA Mutual Group showed October's year-over-year membership growth rate was the slowest since the fall of 2014.

The agency’s second in-depth study of the community banking sector pointed to continued challenges for local institutions from the pandemic and other headwinds, but many smaller banks are reaping the benefits of M&A and holding their own against larger competitors in key lending categories.

Bansley & Kiener, without admitting wrongdoing, agreed to pay $2.5 million to address allegations that lax oversight contributed to the 2017 collapse of Washington Federal Bank for Savings.

It isn't lost on Fiserv that consumers increasingly are moving to digital financial services. Its deal to acquire Ondot Systems, a digital card solutions platform, aims to capitalize on the shift.

The company agreed will pay nearly $10 million for Sunset parent Waukesha Bankshares.

Two large deals happened this week in Australia to build scale against international financial services encroachment from card schemes and cross-border financial services — a concern that's cropping up in several nations.

A new report from McKinsey says that cost-cutting alone won’t make up for the steep revenue declines brought on by low interest rates and sluggish loan demand. “For some banks,” argues the report’s author, “mergers might be the best way out.”

In a move designed to help small businesses to establish online and offline sales, web platform provider GoDaddy has agreed to acquire Poynt payments services.