EQ Bank launched a banking platform for small businesses, according to fintech.ca. It includes a business checking account with no monthly fees or minimum balance, many types of transactions for free, up to 10 sub-accounts, and Canadian customer support. EQ Bank has created a huge opportunity for itself given the size of Canada’s addressable market for small businesses. Going head to head with Canada's large banks would be challenging, but small business services from a direct bank are compelling play: CIBC’s Simplii does not offer small business banking and Tangerine’s are limited.
The biggest banks will spend $6 billion or more on marketing in 2025, or 0.10% of their total asset value, per an analysis of the American Bankers Association Bank Marketers Survey in the ABA Banking Journal. On average, 32% of banks’ marketing budgets were allocated to new customer acquisition—more than any other allocation. Bank marketers are clearly focused on digital advertising, and with greater resources and scale, the largest institutions won’t find it hard to drive awareness, attract new customers digitally, and dominate the conversation. Community banks will need to be scrappy.
JPMorgan Chase spends $2 billion per year on AI and finds an equal amount of cost savings as a result, said CEO Jamie Dimon in a recent Bloomberg TV interview. During its April investor day, JPMorgan forecast spending $18 billion on technology in 2025. JPMorgan is increasing the gap between the haves and have nots in bank technology. AI development in financial services, supported by modern platforms, is outrunning nearly everyone.
Ent Credit Union, a Colorado financial institution (FI) with $10.1 billion in assets, has selected Lumin Digital as its new digital banking platform. Lumin Digital is one of at least 15 digital banking platforms in the US, that compete with the core providers, particularly Fiserv and Jack Henry for smaller banks. Focusing their limited resources on digital improvements that personalize the customer experience can help smaller FIs better compete with their larger peers. Partnering with the right digital banking platforms will make this possible.
Amazon added JPMorgan Chase, Santander, and Wells Fargo as financing partners for used vehicles on Amazon Auto, per Automotive News. Those banks now offer auto loans through the platform, which lets buyers apply for auto loans via Amazon in cities where sellers list used vehicles. The latest Amazon Auto partnerships illustrate embedded finance’s ascendancy into the mainstream. Megabanks and large regional banks will continue to participate in dedicated embedded finance partnerships, particularly with partners that need scale—demonstrating the maturity of a business model that 10 years ago didn’t even have a name.
Fifth Third announced that it would acquire Comerica, merging two large regional banks in a deal worth $10.9 billion. The combined bank will have about $288 billion in assets. That knocks BMO, which hold $253.7 billion in assets, including the $16.3 billion added through its Bank of the West acquisition in 2023, out of the top 10. The FDIC recently rolled back scrutiny of large-bank deals, and President Donald Trump signed a resolution repealing a Biden-era rule that tightened merger reviews. The door is now more open to mergers between large regional banks, and a new wave of consolidation could be coming.
FICO introduced a new model for pricing and licensing its score for tri-merge resellers—vendors that consolidate credit reports and provide reporting to mortgage lenders, per The Wall Street Journal. This is another shot in the protracted war between FICO and the credit bureaus. VantageScore is a credible threat to FICO’s dominance, but the bureaus will lose the markup on the FICO scores that they were distributing. In addition, margins will get squeezed as they lose the markup from resales.
Wells Fargo is focusing on banking for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—with a strong emphasis on customer experience and satisfaction, per Banking Dive. The problem with small business banking is that it’s about banking. Banks have a worsening record of making these banking relationships commerce-driven, in which they also offer merchant services and therefore struggle to deepen day-to-day propositions.
Brazil-based Nubank applied to the OCC for a national bank charter to expand into a country with an adult population of over 250 million and a substantial Latino demographic, particularly in the Southwest.Acquiring a national bank charter doesn’t mean opening a bank for the sake of deposits and lending—payment services without a bank partner may be the goal, at least for now. That would connect Latin Americans with counterparts in the US, competing with remittance services. But a splashy entrance into the US would mean a fight against megabanks for higher-income customers and behemoths like Chime for customers underserved by traditional financial institutions.
Improving mobile banking app functionality and adding tools and resources all in one place offers benefits to financial institutions (FIs) and their customers. But a recent Forbes analysis points out that FIs that want to move toward offering a super app should know the risks. A super app should be the potential outcome of a successful, deliberate strategy rather than a blind goal. Banks should incrementally enhance their offerings by integrating useful tools and resources. And they must rigorously prioritize security against high-value cyber threats and address customer privacy concerns with absolute transparency, especially when involving third parties.
By working closely with intermediaries, financial institutions (FIs) gain more-reliable access to funds, risk diversification, and greater operational efficiency. This in turn improves margins and market share and keeps institutions connected to the investment-lending flow that drives their bottom lines. Successful intermediary marketing directly correlates with empowering the chosen intermediary to do its job rapidly and accurately. FIs must shift their focus to becoming indispensable partners that save intermediaries time and help them win clients. By proactively providing advisors and consultants with ready-to-use, actionable materials, FIs move from being vendors to trusted, strategic assets.
More than three-fourths (78%) of US adults support extending federal funding tax credits for ACA insurance, according to a new KFF survey. That includes 57% of Republicans who support President Donald Trump. The tax credits are a key part of the current Senate stopgap funding negotiations. If subsidies are not extended, insurers need to prepare customer-friendly strategies to retain price-conscious enrollees, such as flexible plan options or help switching plans. They should also offer new digital health perks (or highlight existing ones) like mental health support and health-related discounts.
Credit union membership has held relatively steady between 2023 and 2025 for Gen Zers but has declined significantly among millennials—to 22% in 2025 from 31% in 2023, per a Sogolytics study. Credit unions must reposition themselves for younger consumers by closing the knowledge gap with simple, clear messaging about what they are and why they matter while also countering the perception that they’re outdated. Marketing should highlight their digital strength and convenience, showcase member ownership and community impact to align with Gen Zers’ and millennials’ values, and promote youth-friendly products like starter accounts or fee-free checking.
Citigroup has accepted President Donald Trump's money, creating a new trust held by his son Eric Trump for some of the president's assets, per Bloomberg. Citi is calculating that the Trump family’s potential investments outweigh the reputational risks—and potential blowback from consumers. Businesses’ decisions have recently led to massive boycotts, for example Disney lost 1.7 million subscribers after Jimmy Kimmel’s highly politicized temporary suspension, per Tvinsider. And Target has faced declining profits after stepping back from DEI policies. We will likely see more movement in this direction, as banks fear being labeled as debanking under this administration.
Charlie Javice, who founded a fintech that JPMorgan Chase acquired in 2021 for $175 million, was sentenced to seven years in prison for pitching the deal based on fraudulent records that exaggerated the size of the fintech’s customer base by several million. Fintechs can be valuable partners and shrewd acquisitions, but for banks, they may also be a siren song. A hunger for growth and a thirst for the next best thing can impair otherwise clear management judgment. Due diligence should be thorough and strategic planning measured.
Almost a quarter (23%) of married couples don’t have joint bank accounts as of 2023, per just-released US Census Bureau data. That’s up from 15% in 1996. These findings echo the recent trend of friends opening joint accounts for shared experiences. Together they can still ultimately point to banking customers choosing new solutions to fit their financial realities. Banks can still offer products that meet these changing demands if they give individuals the security, independence, and convenience they want, such as accounts where each person maintains their individual account but can start a shared or joint fund or goal.
Citi mandated AI prompt training for most of its employees, per the American Banker. Citi’s head of technology noted that so far this year, Citi employees have input more than 6.5 million prompts and reduced time spent on some tasks by orders of magnitude. Fourteen percent of financial services companies worldwide have already benefited from their investments in generative AI, per Broadridge, and another 54% expect payback in no more than 1-2 years. The banking industry’s pivot over the past three years from fear of the unknown to seeking benefits will pay dividends in the long run.
Bank of America introduced "Capital Markets Insights" on its CashPro® App for US-based clients, providing a centralized mobile view of market and investment-grade issuance data, per a press release. This aims to simplify debt issuance decisions for CFOs and treasurers. Moving all valuable information to one mobile app is a tried and true strategy for increasing mobile app engagement and improving customer retention—because those customers don’t need to go elsewhere to accomplish their banking tasks. This is an important step to retain and deepen relationships with corporate clients by integrating high-value, previously fragmented capital markets data directly into clients’ workflows.
Schwab is making a decisive move to serve ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients, those with at least $30 million to invest, per Investopedia. To accomplish this in a segment traditionally dominated by larger competitors, the firm plans to open 16 new branches, expand or relocate 25 existing branches, and hire over 400 new branch staff. Schwab is covering its competitive bases by leveraging its existing robust digital platform with a newly enhanced network of high-end, strategically placed branches. With 43 million accounts across its brokerage and banking divisions, this strategy is designed to poach assets from competitors and seamlessly graduate non-UHNW clients into higher-end, enhanced service accounts.