Bank technology

SunTrust is turning to fintech to help it provide better payments solutions to its business customers. The approach is novel because so much of fintech innovation centers on overhauling retail banking.

For the second year of their Financial Solutions Lab competition, the Center for Financial Services Innovation and JPMorgan Chase are looking for companies that would help people prepare for and weather financial shocks.

Community bank executives need to focus on these three areas in order to embrace change and cater to younger, tech-savvy customers.

Bank of Prairie Village in Kansas went through a core conversion last year. Its chairman hopes that his sons, who are set to take over the bank eventually, won't be afraid to embrace new technology since they've experienced the scariest of all bank IT projects.

Bank of Missouri knew that using new technology was important in making its business processes more efficient. But its IT team also knew that it had to get buy-in from the employees actually completing the steps as well to see real results.

Banks' in-house venture funds tend to favor mature fintech companies, but BBVA's establishment of an outside fund should help the bank get in on the ground floor with early-stage companies.

A cybercrime ring that reportedly stole $1 billion from banks around the world last year is back, using different tactics. For one thing, it's more often going after banks' corporate customers, making its activities harder for banks to detect.

Inspired by marketplace lenders, Live Oak Bancshares created a largely digital product that can make a credit decision on a small-business loan within 48 hours. The product, which combines human decision-making and automated credit scoring, could go national as early as next year.

U.S. Bancorp has hired John Steward as president of its retail payments solutions division.

Disruption in credit scoring is healthy, but the new models touted by marketplace and other alternative lenders are still untested, especially about how loans will perform in a downturn.