Healthcare costs

Retailers and restaurants have vigorously supported the ability to pay anywhere from any device, but that technology has not taken hold in more institutional businesses such as health care. It's not for lack of trying from developers.

The companies announced Dr. Atul Gawande, a professor at Harvard and the author of several books on health care, will lead the new health venture starting July 9. But other questions remain unanswered.

The fintech wants to facilitate loans for elective surgeries, auto repairs and jewelry purchases, but regulatory uncertainty — at the state and federal levels — casts a cloud over its business model.

An employee at Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union who recently completed the CU's "Infant at Work" program looks back on the process and shares insights on how other credit unions can help working mothers.

A financial health care well-being initiative Allegacy FCU has offered employees for about a decade is being expanded to the entire membership, thanks to a new partnership with a local clinic.

Amazon recently made headlines by teaming up with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway in a collaboration that might use e-commerce tools to wring inefficiencies out of the companies' health care coverage. It's an idea that's already underway in Sweden.

The fintech revolution is now touching almost every market in the payments space. Some are still further ahead than others, so expect 2018 to be a year of consolidation in more mature sectors, but one of rapid change in those with some catching up to do, writes David Yohe, vice president of marketing at BillingTree.

JPM, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway are creating their own company; Sarah Dahlgren was formerly head of supervision at the New York Fed.

If the company they plan to establish comes together and works — still a big if — it could give JPMorgan an edge in competing with other banks, lead to innovative payments and other products and create unforeseen issues.

JPMorgan Chase and Amazon have demonstrated substantial power to digitize their industries, even influencing the strategy of others. But automating and streamlining health care will be a particularly tough task.