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.

The online lender founded by Renaud Laplanche is now a full-fledged challenger bank that can offer generous checking terms because, it says, it can count on its loans for profits.

Robert Kafafian says he's hearing more MOE chatter now than at any time in his decades-long career as a consultant. He cited smaller banks' need to cut costs, improve tech offerings and compete with bigger lenders.

BBVA’s acquisition of Simple, the first neobank, was closely watched as a possible model for others in the industry. But the shutdown last week of Simple has again stirred a debate about whether upstarts and traditional players can ever fit together.