Despite the partial government shutdown and a host of critical challenges facing our nation, the Trump Administration and Congress were preoccupied last week with the question of whether or not sanctions should be lifted on companies that are owned in part by Vladimir Putin confidant Oleg Deripaska.

Banks face some big challenges in the year ahead, according to American Banker, which listed ways technology will change banking in 2019. Some of the steps look pretty basic, which may reflect on the problems with legacy systems, and suggests some of the advantages new banks could enjoy with new technology.

“There’s no reason why the next Google can’t be there in Wyoming.” That statement, attributed to ConsenSys founder Joe Lubin, captures the spirit of possibility that is now in the air throughout the Equality State (Wyoming was the first state in the US to grant women the right to vote).

The explosion of robo-advisers into the marketplace starting early this decade changed the industry. The bevy of easy-to-use, low-cost apps brought millions of new low-dollar retail investors into the market. And it forced the established players to start offering no-fee, digital services themselves.

The promise of fintech is to be nimble, flexible and agile, transforming a traditional, highly regulated industry. However, the federal government shutdown is putting the equivalent of shackles around fintech’s ankles. And while the shutdown may have been temporarily halted on Friday

Mark Schwanhausser says a bank could use its digital interaction with customers to encourage them to build a rainy day fund, and when that is done, think about investing. Chase Finn and Wells Fargo’s Greenhouse provide ways, virtual envelopes, to create savings goals such as a vacation or a house.

When banks and tech vendors talk about marketing, they rarely mention comparison sites. Which is odd when you look at the numbers. Credit Karma claims 85 million members in the U.S. and Canada and almost half of all millennials. NerdWallet has three million members and 100 million visitors a year. There are many others, including MagnifyMoney and Bankrate.

We don’t issue buy or sell ratings on companies, but if we did, conventional equity ratings wouldn't suffice to describe just how and why we think Facebook is the most overvalued stock since eToys.

There’s often M&A among the smaller fintechs, but sometimes giants want to get together, too. Big news broke this week that entrenched financial technology vendor Fiserv is purchasing e-commerce payments powerhouse First Data in a $22-billion, all-stock deal.

There’s often M&A among the smaller fintechs, but sometimes giants want to get together, too. Big news broke this week that entrenched financial technology vendor Fiserv is purchasing e-commerce payments powerhouse First Data in a $22-billion, all-stock deal.

The idea of fintechs becoming full-service banks is one that’s been long debated, and it’s come to the forefront since the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last year began taking applications for a national bank charter from fintech companies. Since that time, there has been much debate on the nature of the charter or whether it’s even necessary. But comments this week from the Federal Reserve may scupper the dreams of fintechs becoming banks.

This week, Chinese ride-hailing juggernaut Didi Chuxing announced that it was rolling out a suite of financial services offerings for both customers and drivers. We’re particularly interested in the driver side of the equation here, because as TechCrunch’s Rita Lau explained, China recently instituted a new legal framework that renders it much more difficult for gig workers to casually participate in the sharing economy.

The problems with cross-border payments have been discussed ad nauseum. They’re expensive, slow and inefficient. The major Swift hack of 2016 also called into question the security of the current system in place for cross-border payments.  The last few years have seen calls in some quarters for a new innovative settlement system.

"We welcome competition to our transparent, highly regulated equity markets. However, with more than 40 equity trading venues already in operation in the United States, we are keen to learn more about the value proposition of a new exchange." That’s a quote from the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. in commenting on the announcement of MEMX, a new consortium-based exchange

When you think of companies that receive a high number of technology patents, large institutional tech firms like IBM, Microsoft or Oracle may come to mind, or the new tech giants like Amazon and Google.