One firm's inability to access bank data shows how fragile fintechs can be; payments processor Square quietly withdraws bank application; turnover of chief risk officers is on the rise; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Banks could shed as much as 20 million square feet of office space over the next five years as they shift many functions to high-tech operations centers in markets with cheaper rents.

A new malicious spam campaign that has been targeting Internet users in the U.K. serves as an important example of how banking malware targets business as well as home users.

International banks are also having to adapt to a raft of regional payment and data regulations that impact their operations in certain territories significantly but in others only negligibly, according to Russell Bennett, chief technology officer of Fraedom.

Banks need to be prepared for increased regulatory scrutiny as they adopt artificial intelligence technologies.

The fundraising is a sign of the rise in the anti-money-laundering market, which is expected to reach $4.26 trillion worldwide in less than a decade.

The Swiss bank allegedly hired Chinese officials’ friends and relatives to win business; JPM asked “several dozen” employees to consider moving from London.

Machine learning and voice recognition can ease the many pain points of drive-thru ordering.

Readers weigh in on inequality in financial services, opine on falling bank reputations, chime in on the evolving role of the chief risk officer and more.

BluCurrent CU launched video banking in 2012 in the hope new technology would be cheaper long-term than additional staffing, and the credit union has seen strong growth as a result.

The GDPR doesn’t mandate how data requests should be made, but it does say that organizations handling personal data should be prepared to handle the requests. One would be right to wonder whether companies are as prepared as they should be.

The payments processor has pulled its submission to the FDIC to become a depository bank but says it plans to make a second attempt soon.

Whatever the reason that Plaid, a prominent data aggregator, can no longer access data from Capital One, the situation demonstrates how fragile fintechs are when they lose banking access.

The decision not to go after the real estate firm could have “serious implications” for lenders; British banks have three months to address technology issues.

For stores that don't want such a high-tech makeover, options for automatic checkout options are being built on a much simpler foundation.

"Banks should be investing in innovation in this area or risk getting left behind," a fintech CEO warns.

Hotels have elaborate systems to capture lodging fees and other purchases charged to rooms, but when customers book special events such as weddings or conferences, payment security can be more of a problem.

Nonlisted encryption solutions are designed for easier deployment, but often lack many of the key attributes of PCI-listed point-to-point encryption products, writes Ruston Miles, founder and chief strategy officer of Bluefin.

LendingClub, Prosper, SoFi and other fintechs are driving the expansion, according to new data from TransUnion.

FutureFuel.io CEO Laurel Taylor and Edmit.me CEO Nick Ducoff discuss approaches to helping students repay their loans and make good debt decisions.