Bank technology

A new study says Americans are getting hooked on mobile banking.

Marketplace lenders are seizing on current investor enthusiasm after the December public listing of LendingClub. SoFi and Funding Circle have set new origination targets, and new capital markets deals may help replace bank credit lines for Blue Elephant Capital Management and perhaps others.

SimpleFi is working with a New Jersey bank to pitch its payday loan alternative and financial educational services to employers across the country come February 1. It represents part of the trend of disruptors rethinking payroll data.

Citigroup has agreed to change its policies that prevented low-income consumers from opening checking and savings accounts.

Western Union is adopting a vastly different use of Apple Pay than what banks and merchants have so far considered.

Critics of online alternative lenders argue that their underwriting models are unproven and that a financial crisis could bring the whole industry crashing down. But while Lending Club and other startups may be relatively new to the scene, they're no greenhorns.

Fake identity fraud is growing, due to the plentiful array of consumer account and card data available in the wake of massive data breaches. It's a crime banks find almost impossible to detect and deter.

Peer-to-peer and institution-to-small business loan marketplace Funding Circle launched a new fractional loan marketplace today, the San Francisco company announced.

Prosper Marketplace, the online lending platform that arranges funding for unsecured consumer loans, announced its first takeover Tuesday, paying $21 million to buy American HealthCare Lending. The target offers loans for elective medical procedures.

The Fed appears to have looked at Bitcoin as a means for real-time payments in the banking system but shelved the concept for now.

The Federal Reserve System released a detailed vision Monday for improving the speed of the U.S. payment system.

Like General Motors extending credit to car dealers, Google will use Lending Club to finance resellers, service providers, and consultants in its supply chain while putting to work a portion of the tech giant's cash war chest.

Forget the machines. Even forget the software. Diebold's business plan for the future — as touted in a video the company screened at 50 movie houses around the world — centers on its collaboration with banks and others on innovation.

Online marketplace lender OnDeck Capital has launched a new platform to better enable institutional investors to buy small business loans OnDeck originates.

Online marketplace lending platforms are filling real needs. But few banks participate in this booming niche, reflecting the industry's risk aversion and regulatory concerns as well as resistance to change.

Regulators have come to view macroprudential regulations as the guiding light of financial policy. But whether that strategy is working is open to debate.

2014 ended roughly for some of the biggest payment companies, and 2015 will bring even more challenges from rapidly changing technology and nimble startups.

Bill Gates, the world's richest man, and his wife Melinda said that conditions for the world's poorest people will improve more dramatically in the coming 15 years than at any other time in history.

M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., has agreed to sell a trade processing business to Broadridge Financial Solutions in Lake Success, N.Y.

Fifth Third Bancorp and U.S. Bancorp say they will delicately approach expenses in 2015 — or at least until rates rise. They are investing where they must, but pinching where they can, and trying to manage expectations on loan growth.