The Buffalo, N.Y., bank and Railz are working together to analyze accounting data to provide small firms with fresh insight into the health of their operations.

The bank will start with a mobile checking account for U.K. customers this year, followed by a full slate of products that could include credit cards, mortgages and car loans.

The Georgia company increased its target for annual expense cuts and new revenue to $175 million from $100 million. But executives warned that low interest rates and weaker mortgage volume, along with a need to invest in technology, will delay some of the bottom-line benefits.

The companies are reacting to an ongoing shift in customer preferences to digital channels.

The digital bank for students, which recently merged with a blank-check company, can tap its new source of capital to diversify and pursue more white-label partnerships.

The investments, part of a post-merger effort to wring out more profits, include new commercial and mortgage lending platforms.

Sandy Spring Bancorp also plans to shrink its network as more customers move to digital channels.

The company, poised to complete its purchase of Radius Bank, will enjoy new cross-selling opportunities, gain additional sources of fee income and capital as well as benefit from greater regulatory clarity, CEO Scott Sanborn says.

Todder Moning and Valerie Lancelle, who work in the bank’s innovation group, said they were especially impressed by demos of immersive technology, 5G and ambient computing.

Sigal Zarmi, who took on broader duties this fall, is modernizing the company's technological infrastructure and using reverse mentoring to combat bias in the workplace.