Mobile banking

The core-processing vendor FIS wants to dream big like fintech startups when it comes to developing future services, but it also seeks to be large enough to offer multiple services in an era when banks are cutting back on third-party providers.

Banks have a lot of work to do to modernize branches and keep their technology on par with other businesses' digital tools. Here are some ideas worth borrowing from retailers, restaurants and consumer electronics makers if banks haven't adopted them already, says appointment-software firm Financial Management Solutions.

KeyCorp is partnering with fintech firms to offer innovative payments products to its commercial clients, as interest in payments technology begins to spill over from retail into commercial.

With the outlook for mobile payments improving, American Express has brought together several initiatives in this area under a new umbrella dubbed Amex Enabled Digital Solution.

U.S. Bank recently updated its mobile app to a system that would allow it to react more quickly to new technology. It's going to need that flexibility now that consumers are complaining about missing features in the latest upgrade.

A few months after introducing its mobile wallet in the U.S., BBVA is attempting to lure adoption through 'instant' cash-back credit card rewards for qualified transactions at checkout.

Customer expectations for digital are a moving target, and banks and their vendors are quickly trying to figure out which products and services to add next.

Royal Bank of Canada's chief executive, Dave McKay, says the company could roll out a loyalty system kept on a blockchain next year as it experiments with distributed ledgers and looks to enhance its mobile wallet.

There's another fintech accelerator coming to New York.

BMO Financial Group has recruited Niti Badarinath from U.S. Bancorp to manage its online, mobile and physical channels in North America.

Financial institutions are often thought of as major consumers of technology, but a pair of recent examples show that more tech is being developed in-house and, once proven feasible, monetizing it. Expect more spin-offs, observers predict.

Raj Date, the consumer bureau's former deputy director, said Thursday regulators need to be flexible, responsive and use discretion when it comes to dealing with financial technology startups.

USAA has partnered with Coinbase to let users view their bitcoin wallet balances, an added financial management tool indicative of a kind of bundling of non-bank financial services it hopes will differentiate it from its competitors.

Reimaging the digital experience for retail customers has been the rage for several years now, but a handful of companies are turning their attention to rethinking the digital experience for small business deposit accounts.

Although millennials are less trusting of financial advisors than older investors, there are still ways for wealth management firms to court younger clients.

Google, Amazon, Apple, PayPal and Intuit have joined forces to promote policies they say will foster greater innovation in financial services.

Whether it's regulation, cyber threats, vendor backlog or just plain inertia, U.S. banks still lag their overseas counterparts when it comes to mobile adoption.

JPMorgan Chase entered the digital wallet wars in announcing Chase Pay, a product that will launch next year. Although mobile payments have been more bark than bite so far, the company says that its product plans to use loyalty programs to lure reluctant consumers.

Customers Bancorp in Wyomissing, Pa., is building an online borrowing experience for its small-business clients.

The bank owners of the clearXchange payments network and the Early Warning risk management service hope that by combining the two programs, they can remain in control of technologies that will become core to mobile commerce.