The Buffalo bank recently shelved in-house startup GrowGrade and folded another, Nota, back into the mothership.

In a collaboration with Coinbase and Flexa, Regal theaters now accept on-chain U.S. digital currency payments for movie tickets and concessions; the Bank of Nova Scotia has completed its second investment in KeyCorp; Fiserv entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian-based payments fintech Payfare; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Fintech lenders often get criticized for high rates or fees on their consumer lending. But there's an argument to be made that the alternatives are worse.

By naming David Sacks as his "AI & Crypto Czar," Donald Trump has sent a strong signal that forward-thinking regulation of the most vibrant sector of the financial services industry could be on the way.

The Federal Reserve issued an enforcement action against Lineage Bank's holding company, following a similar move by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. earlier this year.

Fintechs and their partner banks are keen to hold the industry to high standards of regulatory compliance in the interests of everyone's reputation.

We've seen what can happen when BaaS providers fail to adequately protect consumers. Across the industry, we need to institutionalize the principles of safe banking, both inside and outside of traditional banks.

Months of painful restructuring may be paying off as the Charlottesville, Virginia-based company reported a modest third-quarter profit after more than a year of losses.

Upbound currently focuses on lease-to-own products. Brigit will help it expand its offerings, but the fintech faced an FTC complaint last year.

Execs from U.S. Bancorp and Keybank discuss how emerging technology makes it easier to replicate the near invisible checkout that car-sharing riders enjoy.

Walmart is pouring more firepower into its fledgling financial venture, signaling its ambition to wade deeper into financial services.

The merger pairs the fintech's consumer lending platform with Gen Digital's identity-protection services, such as Norton, LifeLock and ReputationDefender.

The bank suggests it's a scapegoat for Synapse's wrongdoing in a case of banking-as-a-service gone awry.

Customers of fintechs affected by Synapse's bankruptcy have been waiting since May for money they had in their accounts, and $65 million to $85 million still appears to be missing.

Unity Bank in Clinton, NJ, now offers EV charging stations in a collaboration with Encore Energy Group; fintech Beneficient announced its agreement to acquire Puerto Rico-based Mercantile Bank; Trump named payments exec Jared Isaacman to run NASA; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

The three largest deals had an average round amount of more than $121 million.

The demand for embedded finance is not going away, but the initial rollout of banking as a service relied far too much on middleware providers without expertise in compliance and oversight. BaaS 2.0 must feature a more bank-centric approach.

Banks have been returning some funds to fintech customers affected by the Synapse collapse, but a multimillion-dollar discrepancy between how much Synapse says customers are owed and how much the banks say they have remains.

Items include estimations of President-elect Donald Trump's impact on fintech funding, the fallout from VyStar Credit Union's tech moves and more.

The niche buy now/pay later firm is looking for differentiation in a crowded market with recognizable brands like Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay.