The marketplace lender's application for an industrial bank charter is under fire from small banks and progressives, who say it could violate the barrier between banking and commerce and shut out middle-class and lower-income consumers.
Banco Santander, Spain's biggest lender, bought minority stakes in three financial-technology firms as Chairman Ana Botin makes machine learning a hallmark of her growth plan.
The OCC says banks face growing “strategic risks” from trying to compete and team up with fintech startups; U.K. investor group wants banks to provide more nonfinancial information about their conduct and culture.
There is too much customer and regulatory inertia for banks’ business model to become irrelevant overnight. The real danger is banks will fade out of the picture over time.
Readers this week highlighted the need for banks to upgrade payments systems, debated a small bank’s decision to ditch its legacy core vendor, lamented populist initiatives of the GSEs, and more.
