Bank technology

Users of Ingo Money now can cash a check and instantly send the funds to multiple accounts via a smartphone, including PayPal accounts.

Yes, all the big banks are paring their balance sheets to comply with new rules and axing expenses to please shareholders, but JPMorgan is simultaneously targeting affluent cities for branch and deposit growth.

SecondMarket’s founder built a successful company by creating a market for illiquid paper. Then he went all in on bitcoin. The gamble doesn’t sound quite so crazy anymore.

Patricia Watson joined the board of the $19 billion-asset Texas Capital on Friday. Watson has been chief information officer at TSYS, a payments processor based in Columbus, Ga., since September.

Industry pundits have been predicting the demise of the branch since the dawn of online account access 20 years ago, but digital services haven't replaced branches. They have just increased the contact banks have with their customers. That's won't change anytime soon.

Security veterans Frank Abagnale and Ori Eisen have teamed up on a heavy-duty authentication service with no pretensions of being easy to use. Their venture, Trusona, just raised $8 million.

Inefficient, paper-bound processes, oligopolies that can charge high prices, the Rube Goldberg structure of correspondent banking, and excessive regulation all make it expensive for migrants to send money home. Technology is a big part of the answer.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Mondo, a U.K. challenger bank, plans to make it easy for customers to use financial products and services from other companies. Rather than giving away the store, the bank says this approach will make it a marketplace.

Banks are enthusiastic about innovation that involves both traditional institutions and nonbanks, but a more cohesive regulatory landscape is needed for cooperation between banks and fintech to grow even more.