Inside Marqeta's plans to grow its 'card-as-a-service' offering

The card issuer and processor is differentiating through a flexible, API-based platform that helps clients launch card offerings in months instead of years.

By Suman Bhattacharyya • March 3, 2021

Goldman crypto trading desk relaunch portends softer industry stance on Bitcoin

The bank follows BNY Mellon and JPMorgan in greater crypto acceptance, in a reversal from a May report in which Goldman called Bitcoin an "unsuitable investment." Citi this week said the currency is at a "tipping point."

By Dan Ennis • March 3, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Data-driven disruption

More often than not, an innovator may see disruption as an enhancement to be embraced. And sometimes the innovators are the establishment.

By Banking Dive staff

Square launches long-awaited industrial bank

The FDIC gave the fintech conditional approval for an ILC charter nearly a year ago. Now the company can originate small-business loans rather than doing so through its previous partner, Celtic Bank.

By Dan Ennis • March 2, 2021

Can banks win in the booming buy-now-pay-later space?

While BNPL represents a relatively small niche of the payments ecosystem, banks should take note of what the growth of that silo says about the next generation of consumers, one consultant said.

By Anna Hrushka • March 2, 2021

Fed says 'operational error' caused payment system outage

"An automated data center maintenance process ... was inadvertently triggered during business hours," a Fed spokeswoman specified Thursday. "This was human error," she told The Wall Street Journal.

By Anna Hrushka • Updated Feb. 26, 2021

Tether, crypto exchange Bitfinex to pay $18.5M to settle NY probe

Tether will give officials quarterly reports on its reserves and end trading with the state's residents in an agreement that ends a two-year investigation into allegations it hid the loss of $850 million in client and corporate money.

By Dan Ennis • Feb. 24, 2021

BNY Mellon commits to holding, transferring and issuing crypto

The New York-based bank said Thursday it is developing a client-facing prototype for a multi-asset digital custody and administration platform set to roll out this year.

By Dan Ennis • Feb. 11, 2021

Aggregator MX to expand reach of 'money experiences' as it angles toward IPO

The company has quadrupled its value in the past year in a field that, amid the Visa-Plaid deal's disintegration, has room for "co-opetition," one analyst said, as some banks use multiple data aggregators.

By Suman Bhattacharyya • Jan. 20, 2021

Plaid sees 'opportunity' after $5.3B Visa deal ends

The data aggregator's biggest priority now is getting 75% of its traffic dedicated to application programming interfaces by the end of 2021 — a prospect John Pitts, Plaid's head of policy, calls an "immense challenge."

By Anna Hrushka • Jan. 19, 2021

Visa terminates $5.3B acquisition of Plaid after DOJ antitrust suit

The abandonment of the deal won't keep Visa from pursuing partnerships with Plaid or other fintechs, CEO Al Kelly said Tuesday during a call with analysts.

By Anna Hrushka • Jan. 13, 2021

Banks can use stablecoins, blockchains for payments, OCC says

The move follows a letter the agency issued in July clarifying national banks are allowed to provide cryptocurrency custody services, and hold unique cryptographic "keys" associated with cryptocurrency on behalf of customers.

By Anna Hrushka • Jan. 5, 2021

SEC sues Ripple, top execs over sale of XRP cryptocurrency

Ripple executives accused the regulator of "picking virtual currency winners and losers." XRP lost 60% of its value in the week after the suit, which one Twitter user called a "kill shot."

By Anna Hrushka • Updated March 5, 2021

Crypto firm Paxos gets OCC's conditional approval for trust charter

In contrast to Anchorage and Protego Trust Co., which are converting their state trust charters to national ones, Paxos will maintain its New York state charter and additionally seek a federal one.

By Anna Hrushka • Updated April 27, 2021

Top ways financial institutions are improving the customer experience

In this time of worry and uncertainty, great customer service is more important than ever.

Dec. 14, 2020

Bank of America flags 640K accounts on suspected unemployment benefits fraud

The figure includes 76,000 cards — upon which the bank issues the benefits under contract with the state of California — that were sent to nonadjacent states or filed in the names of infants, children and centenarians.

By Dan Ennis • Dec. 10, 2020

The Banking Dive Awards for 2020

The government turned to banks and fintechs to help facilitate federal relief amid the coronavirus pandemic. Here are the executives and companies whose leadership stood out during the global crisis.

By Banking Dive Team • Dec. 9, 2020

Deal of the Year: American Express buys Kabbage

The fintech was growing beyond lending. The payment network was building beyond cards. Together, they saw the chance to expand outside of themselves.

By Dan Ennis • Dec. 9, 2020

Capital One halts buy-now-pay-later credit card transactions

The move stands in contrast to fellow credit-card issuers Citi and JPMorgan Chase, which last year launched fixed-payoff options. PayPal and Ally Financial this year announced they were rolling out installment loans.

By Dan Ennis • Dec. 7, 2020

Teen-aimed banking app Step gets celebrity boost

The platform said it raised $50 million in a Series B funding round that included investment from singer Justin Timberlake, music group The Chainsmokers and retired athlete Eli Manning.

By Anna Hrushka • Dec. 3, 2020

Facebook-led digital currency, renamed Diem, could launch in January

"We like the connotation of it kind of being a new day for the project," said the group's CEO, Stuart Levey, referring to the moniker's use of the Latin word for "day."

By Anna Hrushka • Updated Dec. 1, 2020

Behind BNY Mellon's war against B2B checks

Peer-to-peer payments have made consumer transactions cheap and efficient. BNY Mellon wants to do that for business payments, with additional communication, reporting and security measures.

By Suman Bhattacharyya • Nov. 25, 2020

Google revamps Google Pay, adds 3 new partner banks

With a redesigned app and an expanded network of banks that have signed on to offer co-branded accounts, the tech giant continues its push into the consumer financial services space.

By Anna Hrushka • Nov. 19, 2020

Twitter to invest $100M in CDFIs in effort to combat racial wealth gap

The social media giant follows a growing number of corporations, including Netflix and PayPal, that have embarked on similar initiatives to funnel more capital to Black and Latinx financial institutions and businesses.

By Anna Hrushka • Nov. 13, 2020

DOJ challenge to Visa-Plaid deal could change financial services landscape

The outcome will decide how the industry might evolve in an ever-changing world of technology — through acquisition of small, innovative fintechs or organic growth, an antitrust attorney said.

By Anna Hrushka • Nov. 10, 2020

DOJ sues to block Visa's $5.3B Plaid acquisition

The Justice Department cited Visa CEO Al Kelly's description of the deal as an "insurance policy" to neutralize a "threat to our important US debit business" as evidence the deal represents an anti-competitive move.

By Anna Hrushka • Nov. 6, 2020