Big firms need nimble operators to create streamlined processes that match shifting customer behaviors, says DealRockit's David Carmell

While a business seeking payments and business management services could piece together what it needs from a few different providers, it's increasingly easier to find fintechs and startups demonstrating how all services can funnel through one platform.

Checkout.com’s $150 million funding round triples the e-commerce company’s valuation to $5.5 billion, and it follows an even larger $600 million bet on Stripe this spring.

Challengers like Joust, Lili and NorthOne that offer banking services to freelancers and small-business owners are getting record levels of new customers as the traditional workforce thins.

The Trump administration is accelerating its restrictions on immigration, including a ban on skilled workers that will make it harder for fintechs to hire people from outside the U.S.

Mastercard has agreed to acquire Finicity for a reported price of $825 million, a move the card brand says will strengthen its open banking platform and expand financial services through more real-time access to data.

Markus Braun turned himself in to Munich prosecutors, who arrested him on suspicion of false accounting and market manipulation; the Wirecard fallout may make it harder for European fintechs to attract investors.

The spending and account management capabilities of corporate prepaid cards have been given new purpose in a pandemic-struck world dependent on government and charity aid.

Micro-investing apps that can enable payments, savings management and investment all in one place will gain favorable consideration from investors and consumers alike, says Naples Technology Ventures' Tom Hogan.

The company, which has yet to turn a profit since it was spun off from Live Oak Bank, said it would use the proceeds for working capital and possibly to make acquisitions.

Mark Braun, the CEO of Wirecard, which rapidly expanded its global footprint in recent years issuing multicurrency payment card products, resigned Friday amid allegations of a major accounting scandal.

The move to digital providers could mean cheaper cash transfers for a demographic that has been hard hit by this pandemic, with both senders and receivers being financially affected.

While most companies that offer early access to wages sell to employers, Earnin is providing direct access to workers in an attempt to mitigate overdrafts and subsequent bank charges.

Even where there have been innovations in the B2B payments space, often it has not accounted for the needs of both sides of the B2B transaction, and thus, adoption has been slowed, says Billtrust's Nick Babinsky.

The agency’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking, which would require banks to evolve with technology, shows foresight that policymakers too often lack.

Mobile payments and open banking open a new world of access, but also a need to shore up data protections, says Global Processing Services' Shaun Puckrin.

Speed isn't enough. There also has to be value and new products, says Icon Solutions' Toine Van Beusekom.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has endured a fairly choppy legal ride since unveiling its idea five years ago to establish a special charter for non-bank fintech companies to access a nationwide financial system for lending services without worrying about being licensed to do so in all 50 states.

As innovation proceeds faster than expected, small firms will need to work with larger firms to meet the new demand, sayd DealRockit's David Carmell.

The coronavirus dealt a double blow to procurement, cutting off both goods and money. Banks and e-commerce firms are relying on partnerships to tweak payment tools to rescue the market.