Can true innovation happen when so much of the industry is still working on systems built in the 20th century?

The profound disruption that has led to the rise of challengers like Apple, PayPal and Square can ultimately drive innovation across the financial services industry.

During the recent market volatility, apps that aim to lure non-typical investors into the market faced a problem with which all digital-only financial products contend: no office to visit for reassurance. Companies turned to emails, tweets and pop-up messages to try to replicate the soothing voice.

Fundera, which runs a website where small-business owners can shop for loans, has raised $11.5 million in new equity funding.

A small Internet-focused bank plans to offer Prosper Marketplace's personal loans directly to its own customers through the bank's website. Prosper could use it as a template for deals with other banks.

Some of the world's biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Barclays, are exploring the use of bitcoin's underlying technology to overhaul financial markets.

Apple Pay, Google Wallet and other platforms have the potential to change consumers' payments habits. If retail payment networks want to keep their brands visible, they might need to consider giving these platforms a slice of the interchange pie.

Blockchain technology associated with Bitcoin has caught the eye of bankers, but now comes the hard part: figuring out where it can be used — international payments, treasury services or elsewhere — without wasting a lot of time and money in experimentation.

The banking industry needs to pay attention to innovation in the payments sector, said Gregory Baer, the incoming president of The Clearing House Association.

Banks and payment companies have been bearish on Bitcoin, but the virtual currency's underlying technology is growing in popularity and attracting investment.

Bankers are already planning app improvements after seeing the new features of the Apple Watch, iPhone 6S, iPad Pro and Apple TV that were revealed this week.

Graduate business students — some of whom previously worked at traditional financial services companies — have been organizing fintech clubs at universities to explore the dramatic changes in banking and to find potential employers.

The New York licensing process for virtual currency companies is stoking fears that firms which do apply could inadvertently open themselves up to prosecution.

The San Francisco company hopes to lower its costs by driving out human intervention as much as possible. To get there, it has made the counterintuitive decision to locate its operations staff in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has named Marco Santori to head a team at the lawfirm that's focused on digital currency and blockchain technology.

Old-fashioned banks and neobanks are both finding the battle for acquiring customers to be treacherous. So BankMobile, a mobile-first banking service, has launched an innovation lab-like division seeking new tech that could attract thousands of new customers per month.

Support is building for changing part of bitcoin's design, after two high-profile developers introduced an alternate version of the virtual currency aimed at speeding up transactions and future-proofing the digital money.

Standard Treasury, the startup that Silicon Valley Bank absorbed this month, is helping create software gateways for the institution's high-tech business clients to customize the way they interact with it.

The global loan platforms present an extreme example of the ongoing clash between the fast-moving financial technology sphere and the staid world of financial regulation.

The global loan platforms present an extreme example of the ongoing clash between the fast-moving financial technology sphere and the staid world of financial regulation.