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With Apple’s WWDC, Zelle, PayPal’s Venmo and Square Cash, competition in the consumer payments space is about to kick into high gear, writes Josh Hawkins, vice president of marketing for the Boston-based digital payments company Circle.

Meetings between bank regulators and technology giants like Amazon and PayPal underscore Silicon Valley's growing involvement in the financial services arena, and may presage pursuit of a bank charter.

Arthur Levitt says seemingly daily scandals highlight the lack of oversight and corporate governance shortcomings of financial technology firms, but two marketplace lending executives responded that more mature companies have just as many problems.

Square Inc. struck an agreement to process payments for ticketing service Eventbrite and made a strategic investment in the startup, part of the digital-payments company’s push into online commerce, an area dominated by larger players like PayPal Holdings Inc.

Readers chime in on debates about ILCs, the CFPB’s arbitration rule, the financial services ambitions of tech firms and more.

The payments processor Square has big plans in banking — but even after filing an application to charter an industrial loan company, it still doesn’t see itself as a competitor to most financial institutions.

The Independent Community Bankers of America had initially called for a moratorium in response to SoFi's application, and says now that Square's bid "has significantly increased our concerns."

Few lawmakers have stated positions on fintech applications for industrial loan company charters. It may not stay that way.

Square became the third fintech firm in recent months to seek out a bank charter. Others are likely to follow.

Many of the arguments in this debate have less to do with the applicants’ qualifications than with traditional banks’ fear of new, innovative competitors.

Petal is using machine learning in its new card program to make the most of the scant financial data available from young consumers.

Company is third fintech firm in the past few months to seek its own bank charter; vice chair’s departure gives Trump four vacancies to fill on the Federal Reserve Board.

The company's application, which is expected to be announced as early as Thursday, comes after the online lender SoFi applied in June for an industrial loan charter. The bank is expected to be led by a former Green Dot executive.

The $2.6 trillion-asset bank's recent commitment to digital lending augurs the development of a two-tier market for borrowers who want fast access to cash.

Square Inc.’s lending business is booming, but Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said that rather than competing with banks, his company is focused on offering traditional banking services to more merchants and consumers who might not have easy access to them.

Square has long been considered at the vanguard of digital payment innovation, so it may be a little unexpected to see the company take a step backward into physical card issuance.

Square is diversifying its services for merchants to stay competitive and hopes its recognizable brand will play a major role.

Though statistically women have trouble getting small business loans, Square's granting more than half its loans to women; latest numbers show only one in four bank senior execs are female.

Square Inc. is rolling out mobile payment services in the U.K., marking its biggest global expansion in a push to boost growth while the U.S. market nears saturation.

Square Inc. has just scored its oldest customer ever — a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple in central Japan.