Banktech/Fintech

Industry groups have launched new programs that are expected to carry over into 2021, while others are raising new calls for Congress to tackle data security.

MagicCube’s i-Accept is a hardware-free option for accepting card and electronic payments that could appeal to cost-conscious small businesses and open up a new market for banks that provide them payments services.

Online fraud typically spikes when holiday shopping begins in November, but so-called friendly fraud poses another big threat this year with the pandemic pushing more consumers — and inexperienced merchants — to online sales channels.

Citigroup is now the third, and largest, U.S. financial institution to offer the Mastercard True Name feature, which lets customers use their preferred name, rather than their legal name, on credit and debit cards. The cards are targeted specifically for transgender and nonbinary people, who often face outsized financial hardship.

Gary Cohn, former head of the Trump administration’s National Economic Council and onetime top executive at Goldman Sachs, says technological changes will continue to make it harder for smaller financial institutions to compete and force many to be sold.

Other central banks have considered phasing out cash as they explore digital currencies. Should the idea take hold in the U.S., Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said it would not replace the physical dollar.

Over the past year, the Alabama bank has been developing new tools that analyze survey responses, phone interactions and social media posts to identify opportunities to improve digital offerings.

USAA's regulatory troubles now include OCC fine, CRA downgrade; Citi CEO Michael Corbat and CFO Mark Mason dodged questions on cost of risk overhaul; PNC unlikely to buy a digital bank, CEO Demchak says; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Plaid said it has been in discussions with TD Bank over allegations of trademark infringement and false advertising and was caught off-guard by the lawsuit the bank filed Wednesday.