Banking sector girds for M&A uptick in 2025

Bank M&A rebounded in 2024, with six deals over $1 billion announced. The Fed approved the two largest before the Trump administration took office. But where to go from here?

By Rajashree Chakravarty • Jan. 31, 2025

How JPMorgan Chase’s infrastructure chief keeps the AI engine humming

The bank is sourcing some resources five to 10 years out, said Darrin Alves, CIO of infrastructure platforms.

By Matt Ashare • Jan. 30, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Artificial intelligence

Banks are enthusiastic about AI’s promises. But can they get customers on board, and will regulators let the innovation happen?

By Banking Dive staff

Trump media firm aims to launch fintech brand this year

The company wants to develop “American First” investment vehicles with funding of up to $250 million to be custodied by Charles Schwab, it said Wednesday.

By Dan Ennis • Jan. 29, 2025

Frost Bank exec: AI to usher in simpler mobile banking era

As bank apps stuffed with features have become complicated, AI will enable apps to become smarter and more customized for customers, said Jimmy Stead, the lender’s consumer banking and technology chief.

By Caitlin Mullen • Jan. 29, 2025

USAA sues Regions over mobile deposit tech

The complaint furthers USAA’s long history of court battles with banks such as Wells Fargo and PNC over patent disputes. Truist and Discover more recently signed licensing agreements to resolve rifts.

By Dan Ennis • Jan. 29, 2025

Fintechs may gain at banks’ expense in Trump era

The Trump administration may usher in policies that buttress the aspirations of new entrant payments players and increase competition for banks.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 28, 2025

Banks fire up coding assistants as AI costs plummet

“Generative AI is going to impact every function within a bank — every single part of the job,” said Michael Abbott, Accenture's global banking lead.

By Matt Ashare • Jan. 27, 2025

Judge deals SEC, Kraken partial wins in ongoing case

Kraken and the Securities and Exchange Commission both secured partial victories in a ruling about what defenses Kraken can use in the ongoing case between the two.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Jan. 27, 2025

Trump order embraces stablecoins, bars CBDCs

President Donald Trump issued a “digital financial technology” executive order Thursday backing the cryptocurrency industry and terminating any federal work on a central bank digital currency.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 24, 2025

SEC unveils crypto task force led by Hester Peirce

“This undertaking will take time, patience, and much hard work,” Peirce said, adding the agency plans to encourage a regulatory environment that “protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation.”

By Rajashree Chakravarty • Jan. 22, 2025

Capital One outage spans days, hits thousands

Third-party vendor FIS blamed a local power loss and hardware failure for the issue, which Bank of Oklahoma said affected more than two dozen financial institutions.

By Dan Ennis • Jan. 21, 2025

Silvergate ex-CFO seeks dismissal of SEC charges

Antonio Martino filed for dismissal Tuesday, seven months after the SEC fined Silvergate and banned two of its executives from C-suite positions for five years.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Jan. 16, 2025

U.S. Bank scouts for agentic AI as age of ‘do it for me’ awaits

The super-regional’s chief innovation officer said there’s a fine line between being proactive and helpful, versus being proactive and creepy. “We don’t want to cross the creepy line,” he said.

By Caitlin Mullen • Jan. 16, 2025

Employer.com expands into bookkeeping services with Bench acquisition

The workforce management firm acquired the Vancouver-based bookkeeping fintech after Bench announced it was shutting down. Bench applied for bankruptcy on Jan. 9 in a Canadian court.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • Jan. 15, 2025

BaaS outlook brighter after period of growing pains

Regulatory scrutiny of the banking-as-a-service model won’t disappear, but the number of BaaS-related enforcement actions this year is expected to be more of a trickle than a flood.

By Caitlin Mullen • Jan. 15, 2025

Robinhood to pay $45M to settle SEC charges

Robinhood Securities will pay $33.5 million and Robinhood Financial will pay $11.5 million to settle a variety of charges, including recordkeeping and cybersecurity violations.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Jan. 15, 2025

FDIC’s Hill sets out priorities for agency’s ‘new direction’

The agency’s vice chair anticipates a shift in bank supervision that emphasizes core financial risks over a process-related focus.

By Caitlin Mullen • Jan. 13, 2025

CFPB brings back sandbox but keeps competition emphasis

The bureau’s policies restore the no-action letter and sandbox designation, but feature some tweaks aimed at correcting past “shortcomings.”

By Caitlin Mullen • Jan. 9, 2025

Finastra taps new CEO

Chris Walters will succeed Simon Paris, the current CEO of the London-based software firm, who announced Monday he is stepping down from his role.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • Jan. 8, 2025

Judge stays Coinbase, SEC case

Judge Katherine Polk Failla granted Coinbase an interlocutory appeal, leading to a stay, so another court can decide one of the most pressing questions in crypto.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Jan. 8, 2025

6 banking trends to watch in 2025

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is expected to make an impression on a number of facets in banking – from regulation to M&A to crypto.

By Dan Ennis , Rajashree Chakravarty , Caitlin Mullen , Gabrielle Saulsbery • Jan. 8, 2025

How Wells Fargo aims to boost trust among underbanked

The bank has been focused on providing services that are “in language and in culture” to foster trust and transparency, said Michael Martino, head of Wells’ inclusion initiative.

By Caitlin Mullen • Jan. 8, 2025

Kraken decries crypto de-banking amid Metro Bank ban

Metro is one of several U.K. lenders to impose a bar or limit on deposits into crypto exchanges. A Metro Bank spokesperson says the thrust is to curb fraud.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Dec. 19, 2024

Flagstar fined $3.5M for ‘misleading’ after 2021 cyberattack

The bank “negligently made” materially misleading statements after a hack that resulted in the theft of 1.5 million customers’ personally identifying information.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Dec. 19, 2024

Tokenized securities firm Prometheum raises $20M

Co-CEO Aaron Kaplan plans to use the funds to launch trading services, and to provide a venue for financial institutions and investment firms to offer investors tokenized securities.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • Dec. 18, 2024