Bank technology

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.

Supporting Apple Pay cuts into banks' profits. But it's worth it to stay relevant in today's fast-moving mobile payments business.

Circle Internet Financial, a Bitcoin wallet provider, is looking to expand to China with the help of new investor IDG Capital Partners, which joined the $50 million Series C investment the company just secured.

Now that the Apple Watch has arrived, banks and technology companies are making a big effort on the wearable's small screen. Some are focused on alerts and budgeting; others take advantage of the device's unique hardware.

Wells Fargo has launched a tool that helps small business owners create and update business plans.

As Facebook and Google increasingly become de facto managers of consumers' online identities, some wonder if another, more trusted party, such as banks or the government, should step up and take on this role.

Coinbase, a U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange with many prominent merchant clients, has spread its services into the U.K. where bankers and regulators have been more welcoming of digital currency innovations.

A former JPMorgan Chase employee was arrested by the FBI on charges of stealing customer data and trying to sell it to an undercover informant for tens of thousands of dollars.

Many banks will need to invest in making their websites render nicely on smartphones after Google started to favor "mobile-friendly" pages in determining what content comes up first on its search pages.

Bank branches are continuing to lose their luster as consumers rely on online and mobile channels, according to a new report.

Tom Swidarski, former Diebold CEO, has made a sizable investment in the bank technology equipment and services provider Bancsource, the company announced Tuesday.

Digital upstarts are out to steal traditional banks' customers by taking the hassle out of everything from account opening to borrowing. It’s tough to compete with banks' resources and brand recognition, but these new mobile competitors are adamant that they can win on customer experience.

Even if you don't care about Bitcoin, you could use the technology that enables it. Companies like Eris and Factom are working on practical applications that banks would find handy, with use cases ranging from acquisitions to securitizations.

For all their talk, banks are still sorely lacking when it comes to creating a great user experience in their digital channels, as this unhappy customer can attest.

Another quick illustration of why bank customers and regulators are demanding that the U.S. move to a real-time payments system.