The Seattle-based tech giant, in its latest foray into the financial services business, has begun offering installment loans to British consumers.

The huge growth of online banking, including mobile, has transformed the industry, bringing tremendous choice, flexibility and convenience to consumers and businesses. But online banking can also be a source of fraud. Watch this video and learn the real risks of web fraud to financial institutions and ways to prevent it.

At the start of 2015, there was a sense that Silicon Valley would soon rule the world of finance and that banks risked irrelevance. A year later, a more balanced picture has emerged.

CommonBond, a New York firm that makes student loans through an online platform, said Tuesday that it has raised more than $275 million in debt funding from Barclays and others.

The blockchain could move from testing to reality, APIs are likely to expand, and more functions will move to the cloud as banks look for ways to fend off fintechs in 2016.

Bitcoin Direct has a heavyweight behind its latest digital wallet – literally.

Lawmakers are expected to debate a number of key banking provisions this year, even with the November elections on the horizon.

Bruce Fenton, executive director at the Bitcoin Foundation, opened its Dec. 15 board meeting with a sense of urgency: "We need additional funds if we wish to retain employees." The numbers didn't look good. In two years, the foundation had seen at least $7 million evaporate. As of Nov. 30, its total assets stood at $12,553.06.

A new digital currency backed by gold is billing itself as a more compliant, liquid and ultimately reliable store of value than decentralized systems such as bitcoin.

Several organizations, such as Swift and The Clearing House, announced faster payments initiatives this year. Those initiatives will likely play critical roles in 2016 in helping the Fed plot ways to modernize the U.S. payments system.