Mobile banking

Banks are expected to spend more on technology in the coming year, with the cash earmarked for things like upgrading mobile apps and adding self-service tech in branches.

The once-icy relationship between banks and fintechs thawed quite a bit in the last year. The next step might be for banks to start buying startups.

B of A's Merrill Lynch unit by early next year plans to join Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, BBVA Compass, U.S. Bancorp and others in offering clients a low-cost investing app and online service.

It's hard to sell a big bank something regardless of the tech company's size. But for early-stage startups with only a handful of employees and a product still under development, the challenge is far greater than for seasoned tech vendors.

Simple, the digital-only "neobank" owned by BBVA Compass, is testing out its second product, a contemporary twist on the traditional joint account.

USAA has expanded its voice-controlled digital assistant to PC users. The move is just another example of how banks are increasingly relying on bots to help serve their clients.

A new wave of exciting innovation is presenting businesses with opportunities to improve processes and the consumer experience.

The move is an example of how banks are looking to fintech entrepreneurs to bring innovation in, and it illustrates the emphasis and importance banks are putting on their mobile channels.

Up until now, no fintech company has succeeded on a mass scale to offer solutions beyond its core product. But disruptors are trying to go in that direction, and banks should watch their efforts closely.

Randolph Bancorp raised $57 million in a mutual-to-stock conversion and is using the proceeds to fund acquisitions — it closed its first-ever deal in July — and dramatically improve its digital capabilities.

Financial services IT teams must think like cybercriminals and develop an offensive approach to security at a time when threats are growing in frequency and sophistication.

Banks continue to gather ID documents manually from would-be customers, even ones who sought to open accounts online. Bringing the manual process into the digital age is the goal of several startups.

Paper-based marketing — not digital communication — remains a more promising way to reach customers 50 and older, who also tend to be a bank's wealthiest client segment.

Bankers may have a reputation for being old-school, but their rapidly growing digital-ad budgets are in step with the rest of the business world. Banks can both gather valuable demographic data from who clicks on their ads and better measure returns on their investments.

Banks can be more effective in connecting with customers by offering them personalized communications, rather than bombarding them with general sales pitches.

Digital has been seen as the death knell of branches, but banks like JPMorgan, B of A and UMB are among those making the case that branches can still set banks apart from rivals provided they get leaner and offer customers a blend of tech support and financial expertise.

Mixed messaging on fin tech doesn't just emanate from the halls of Congress. It can also be found at the regulatory level as well.

Increasingly, our conversations about digital banking are only about technology. We must expand our dialogue to include ways to make digital banking empathetic.

For large banks, the risks of partnering with marketplace lenders do not matter. But small community banks can't afford to partner with competitors angling to poach their customers.

When a mobile banking vendor told a San Antonio Federal Credit Union it didn't have the capabilities it wanted, the institution took a note from Facebook's strategy with Messenger and created a companion app.