Bank technology

itBit, the startup Bitcoin exchange whose backers include former FDIC chairman Sheila Bair, has become the first digital currency firm to receive a trust charter under New York banking law.

While the penalty is a blow to Ripple Labs, it could have significant implications for the industry at large and its efforts to legitimize itself in the eyes of regulators and banks. Here's how:

Companies like OnDeck and Lending Club are under pressure to keep finding new borrowers, but there are signs that customer acquisition costs are rising amid heavier competition.

The Fintech Sandbox — an accelerator of sorts for startups — has attracted ten data providers and eight fintech startups in two months. But it's still missing what it needs most: bank members.

WASHINGTON — Financial Crime Enforcement Network Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said Wednesday that Internal Revenue Service examiners are conducting bank-like exams of virtual currency firms for possible anti-money laundering violations.

U.S. authorities have fined the San Francisco startup $700,000 over violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's Tuesday press release.

After the early exuberance surrounding Apple Watch, banks and vendors are ramping up testing of bank apps on other wearable devices and everyday objects, preparing for a day in which most everything is connected to the Internet.

The Chicago-area community bank, which started in the basement of a church as a savings and loan 117 years ago, has started a series of free webinars to give people guidance to free themselves from debt.

Western Independent Bankers, a consortium of about 130 community banks in 13 western states, has entered into a deal to use the marketplace lender LendKey to underwrite and service auto loans.

Bankers give too much credence to futurists and financial gurus who warn that technology will render the in-branch experience obsolete.

Kim Hammonds is modernizing Deutsche Bank's technology with a set of dramatic choices to outsource some functions, bring others in-house and work extensively with tech startups.

Fintech startups offer affordable loan rates and fast turnaround times. But banks have the advantage of offering multiple services all under one roof — or website.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a case for the CFPB's debt collection regulations and the dangers of "real-time" transaction monitoring.

Regulators' latest guide for examining anti-laundering procedures lacks wholesale changes, but institutions still must decipher minute changes with potentially big impacts.

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.

Marketplace lender Social Finance has expanded its education loans to parents of students in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Visa, the world's biggest payments network, posted a fiscal second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as consumer-card spending rose.

Citigroup and other banks are increasingly looking to startups to help them compete in a world in which Google, Apple and other tech firms are rapidly becoming potential threats.

The decision to promote David Casper, BMO Harris' head of commercial lending, should show that the Chicago bank is ready to push back against aggressive competitors in the Midwest

Another Bank of America executive has joined Novantas, a maker of financial-analytics software for banks.