Banking

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web: Mastercard gets a blockchain patent; A cryptocurrency for pot may sponsor Dennis Rodman's trop to the Singapore summit; The networks and XRP team on a wallet toolkit; ABN Amro gamifies technology hiring.

Readers react to members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's advisory board getting fired, opine on Sen. Elizabeth Warren slamming deregulation, weigh in on facial recognition technologies and more.

Banks will need to evolve further and faster to reach consumers in an interconnected, always online world, according to industry leaders.

The Pittsburgh company said that the moves would improve both operating efficiency in its retail network and the credit profile of its consumer loan portfolio.

It's tough to explain the bizarre way the CFPB handled the decision to dismiss the members of three advisory councils earlier this week.

The bipartisan legislation would enable business in legal-marijuana states to access banking services, removing a key hurdle for a fast-growing industry.

President and CEO Joseph Ficalora took a 33% pay cut in 2017, but shareholders still rejected the plan by a wide margin.

The firm graded bank and credit card apps on customer satisfaction, appearance, navigability, and availability and clarity of information.

Ameris Bancorp said that Edwin Hortman will step down as president and CEO in July but will continue as chairman.

Live Oak is the latest bank to jump into this niche lending area. But some warn they are beginning to see cracks in credit quality.

The bank’s joint initiative with CFSI awards capital to firms trying to address issues that the startup teams personally experienced.

Closing branches might be good for cost control, but it can also diminish the ability to gather core deposits. Banks with $2 billion to $10 billion of assets — which are ranked here by three-year average returns on equity — are learning this the hard way.

Paring down branches, product offerings and business lines can help banks succeed.

First Midwest Bancorp has agreed to buy Northern States Financial in Waukegan, Ill., for $91 million.

As customers increasingly research products online, they are coming to know more about a bank’s products than workers. This is a problem.

First Internet Bancorp in Fishers, Ind., which went public in 2013, could also use the capital for acquisitions and other investments.

A popular AI open-source platform with bank investors is being combined with IBM hardware and Nvidia processors in the hopes of creating high-speed, “driverless” AI.

Agency says it wants “smaller memberships to ensure streamlined discussions;” the bank hired a U.K. firm to help it better defend against cyberattacks.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Amazon picks spots in Chicago for Go; Italy deploys interbank blockchain; Indian bank gets hit with AML fine; Another startup emerges from the U.K.'s fintech standbox.

At American Banker’s Digital Banking conference in Austin, industry leaders wrestled with philosophical questions about artificial intelligence and the rapidly evolving expectations of customers.