Intrust Bank has agreed to purchase $20 million worth of Funding Circle's small-business loans in what could just be the beginning of a long-term relationship.

As much as any new trend in 2018, the advancement of the Smart Cities concept will have a lasting effect on payments.

The stratospheric rise of bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and other cryptocurrencies in recent months may be only the beginning.

Helping young employees pay down student debt is a more meaningful benefit than pingpong tables at work or free beer.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., has emerged as one of the most outspoken members of Congress when it comes to fintech, both embracing its potential and calling for regulatory guardrails.

Startups that have developed the technology for real estate finance are starting to conduct a broader array of transactions, including property sales.

Cybersecurity systems, as sophisticated as they are, are clearly not doing the job. And maybe they never will, given that in the end the effectiveness of those systems can be overridden by workers inside the organization, writes Tal Vegvizer, director of research and development for Bufferzone.

Banks of all sizes continue to invest in mobile technology — but in order to see stronger growth, they must also invest in education to overcome consumer unease with the product.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau featured in three of our most read articles of last year, while two others were about the disruptor Ripple. Other highlights included our annual Women in Banking package, the aftermath of the Equifax data breach and news of Amazon's possible banking plans.

Startups that have developed the technology for real estate finance are starting to conduct a broader array of transactions, including property sales.

Compliance checks today are not continuous or automatic, even in the largest of global enterprises. Traditionally, compliance audits are performed by organizations just once a year when, in reality, they need to be continuous in order to be effective, writes Manoj Asnani, lead of product and design for Balbix.

After 10 years of development, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain that has been widely adopted.

While interest from the West has so far been tepid in the region, this is an opportune time for fintech investors to look at participation in the Southeast Asian market, writes Alexander Koles, CEO and founder of Evolve Capital Partners.

The recent explosion of activity around biometrics and other new forms of authentication should seem like a good thing for the development of connected commerce. But right now it's more of a wild west that needs to be tamed.

Banks' embrace of open-source development could eventually go beyond creating tools and apps — to something far more radical.

People are spending more time in messaging applications, and merchants need to be visible in that venue, writes David Nunn, head of Braintree Europe.

With so much uncertainty, the only thing that's clear is how different the sector may look a year from now. Here's an overview of the leading trends in technology that will impact payments and banking in 2018.

From the identity of bankers in the 21st century to the regulatory turmoil in Washington to the huge impact of technology on the industry, readers expressed an array of strong opinions about what happened in 2017.

The digitally savvy lender MyBucks, which has lent money through a smartphone app and chatbots on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, could be a good role model for U.S. banks thinking of using AI in credit decisions.

After visiting with dozens of banks, tech firms and retailers, the CEO of the Delaware bank concluded that he needed to create a customer experience department but could leave blockchain development to his larger rivals. He also gained valuable insights about succession planning during his time away and discovered new ways to connect with employees.