Bank technology

Shares in Green Dot surged more than 30% late Monday after the firm announced the five-year renewal of a prepaid card contract with Walmart, as well as new plans for a share-buyback program.

The regulatory path may also be bumpier for P-to-P lenders that focus on subprime borrowers, predicts Raj Date, a former second-in-command at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Bankers are banding together to combat cybercrime and Chris Feeney, new head of the Financial Services Roundtable's technology arm, wants to play a central role in keeping it a team effort.

Apple realizes that retailers are uniquely well-positioned to encourage mobile payments adoption. That's why the company's decision to start accepting retailer loyalty cards on Apple Pay before launching a loyalty program of its own makes good sense.

While regulators worldwide have urged banks not to "derisk" by cutting off entire industries or geographies, it is rare for policymakers to specifically cite this controversial sector as wrongly underserved.

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A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the need to hold bankers accountable for criminal deeds and whether the FDIC's proposed recordkeeping requirement is smart planning or pointless.

Silicon Valley firms like Apple and Lending Club are happy to partner with banks — so long as they get to be the face of customer interactions. But banks may not easily give up that ground.

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 from our social media platforms.

Kabbage, the online small business lender, has announced a partnership to make loans to customers of United Parcel Service, the global delivery firm.

Most banks that deploy voice authentication require a specific spoken passphrase. Eastern Bank customers can have a normal conversation with call center reps; software in the background compares their voice patterns to a recorded snippet.

It's hard to get consumers and merchants to change their behaviors. But eventually the convenience and well-crafted incentives of mobile payments will prompt people to give up the plastic habit.

Security researchers say criminals are turning away from malware-only attacks and preying on unsuspecting call center reps, merchants and bank-website users with simpler, more traditional schemes.

Whether you're in the mood to read about the checkered history of the Vatican Bank or how Bitcoin's colorful cast of characters endeavor to shape the future of money, there's a book to suit every taste in this year's recommended reading list. Here's what American Banker's readers, staff and BankThink contributors are taking to the beach this summer.

A new Fifth Third social media campaign offers recent college graduates free one-on-one career counseling. The initiative is part of a trend of banks allocating marketing dollars to unusual perks and charitable giving to differentiate their brands.

NCR in Duluth, Ga., may be a target for a possible takeover by private equity firms Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group.

While marketplace lenders like LendingClub and Prosper are at the cutting edge of innovation for now, banks may gain ground eventually. Either way, the competition greatly benefits the expanding pool of borrowers who will have greater access to credit.

As marketplace lenders, robo-advisers and other startups nibble away at the profitable, customer-facing parts of banking, executives at last week's Digital Banking Summit discussed how banks can defend against "unbundling."

Multinational banks that delay preparation for the European Union's proposed General Data Protection Regulation could pay a steep price: hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.

The mega-banks' P2P venture, clearXchange LLC, has developed technology that could give it a key role in any implementation of faster payments in the U.S.