Payments Ecosystem: This year will reveal how providers must adapt to lasting pandemic-driven digitization across payments channels, ranging from in-store retail to B2B ecommerce.

Payments Ecosystem: Diminishing analog payment use—as well as the battle for share between entrenched electronic payment methods and emerging challengers—will intensify the battle for customer spending this year.

Banking in a post-overdraft world: Regions is shaking up its mix of income sources after lowering its customers’ risks of incurring overdraft penalty charges.

Why Amazon keeps experimenting with physical stores: While offline sales represent a tiny fraction of its overall sales, Amazon has plenty to gain by venturing into the real world.

US banking trade groups want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to pause its planned crackdown on the fees, arguing it could lead to overdue bills.

The US banking giant not only eliminated overdrafts, it introduced a lending alternative—charting a course for banks to jettison the controversial fees while continuing to serve those dependent on them.

Its plan to significantly reduce its presence in Mexico is just one example of how scale could be a double-edged sword for banks.

This fifth annual benchmark stacks up 23 US financial institutions against one another, evaluating their mobile app capabilities based on consumer demand for 42 emerging features.

Overdraft and NSF charges accounted for nearly two-thirds of banks’ fee revenue in 2019. A “range of regulatory interventions” will protect consumers from the heaviest purveyors of the practice.

The bank’s plans to overhaul its mobile app and AI assistant could help it gain customers and offer an improved user experience.

BofA, Chase, Citi, and Wells Fargo notched growth above 20% thanks to economic improvements and new and revamped card products.

The bank’s grace period feature helps customers avoid the charges and an upcoming checking account excludes them. But the bank must make up for the lost revenue.

Cash-back credit cards could make themselves more appealing to prospective customers with a few key features.

The Reflect card rewards on-time payments with extended 0% APR in a bid to pull consumers away from solutions like BNPL.

Digital-only banks—and neobanks in particular—have emerged as potent threats to incumbents, and many disruptors that could further shake up the US banking market loom large. But incumbents can still secure digital account holders by adopting digital best practices championed by challengers.

Through our exclusive interviews with heads of digital at 12 of the largest financial institutions and three top neobanks across the US, UK, and Canada, this report illuminates the biggest challenges and opportunities these executives are facing. 

Co-brand card issuers and brand partners have an opportunity to reimagine their offerings in the pandemic’s wake. Leaning on newfound digitization and shifting spending habits can help providers tailor their offerings in ways that widen their net, grow volume, and appeal to the maximum number of customers.

The White House called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to move ahead with data-sharing regulation— its adoption would make it easier for neobanks to become customers’ primary banks and help all banking players partner with fintechs.