First Premier Bank in South Dakota revamped its online sign-up process to allow customers to name the banker who referred them. This helps bankers overcome their reluctance about digital accounts and lets them start relationships with new customers.

The lender will start by cross-selling Digit's products, then gradually consolidate the two companies' platforms. Meanwhile, Oportun is working to put questions about its collections practices behind it.

Some established financial technology companies like Robinhood are said to be refusing to accept funds from accounts at young digital-only banks that they say are growing too fast to deter fraud. The companies being blocked respond that it’s an unfair, scattershot approach.

The consumer bureau asked for public feedback about payment platforms as part of a focus on the Silicon Valley giants’ financial services aspirations. But comment letters so far have been dominated by users complaining that they lost money on the big-bank-owned peer-to-peer network.

Worker shortages at call centers and rising concerns about account fees may have contributed to the industrywide decline, according to the authors of a new J.D. Power study. Capital One, which scored highest, benefited from its strength in digital banking.

The Pennsylvania bank run by Sam Sidhu is updating its platform to support real-time payments for cryptocurrency companies and will offer embedded finance and banking-as-a-service to fintechs.

The proceeds will support Silvergate’s network that facilitates cryptocurrency transactions and a leveraged lending product that provides loans collateralized by bitcoin.

The Georgia bank estimates that it will save $12 million annually by shutting down 40 branches.

By acquiring First Sound Bank in Seattle, the fintech would control the strategic direction of the combined company and won't have to share revenue, CEO Luvleen Sidhu says.

Citizens Financial Group, which has offered instant financing for the Xbox All Access program since 2019, will now provide point-of-sale loans for Microsoft PCs, tablets and other products and services.

Coming out of the pandemic, traditional banks will have just two years to update their business models or they risk falling behind more innovative peers and aggressive upstarts, the consulting giant warns in a new report.

Professional Holding CEO Dan Sheehan is dismissive of off-the-shelf bank technology. “Whatever we’re getting in a box, the next hundred competitors are going to be able to get.”

N26 and Monzo halted or delayed expansion plans here largely because competition for customers was already intense and obtaining a banking license proved difficult.

Wilson created an app from scratch in the middle of a large merger, he's setting up “client journey rooms” where customers co-create technology with technologists, and he's moving the bank forward into cloud computing.

The digital-only bank, which entered the U.S. about two years ago, said Thursday that it is closing roughly 500,000 customer accounts here and will prioritize growth in Eastern Europe.

No matter the outcome of the confirmation battle over Saule Omarova — the Biden administration nominee for comptroller of the currency whom many bankers view as too liberal — policymakers must still resolve this fundamental question: Are banks public utilities or private companies with special privileges?

Lincoln Parks at Heritage Bank in Georgia built from scratch its social media following, a digital-only way to open accounts and (in 48 hours) a Paycheck Protection Program lending system. For these and other efforts, Parks is a runner-up for American Banker’s Digital Banker of the Year.

The company, whose software is used by four of the top five U.S. banks, says it will use the money to improve its identity verification and fraud detection technology.

Even as the pandemic has hastened adoption of digital banking, industry officials say branches remain vital points of contact with consumers.

Many of the consumers who embraced online and mobile channels during the pandemic are seeking help from human bankers more than ever, according to research from Cornerstone.