The funding drought and consolidations: On Fifth Third Bank’s acquisition of Rize Money 

Banking, Member Exclusive

Why fintechs are transitioning from partners to principals in banking

• The wave of charter filings in the first quarter of 2026 underscores shifts in fintech business and regulatory dynamics.
• Direct supervision by banking regulators is demanding, but fintechs increasingly see it as offering greater operational certainty than fragmented licensing and partner oversight.

Artificial Intelligence, Banking, Banking as a service, Innovation

Truist’s Dontá Wilson: ‘Innovation without empathy is empty’

• Truist's Dontá Wilson leads 20,000 teammates across digital channels and 1,900+ branches, and he's reimagining both.
• He breaks down Truist's insight-driven branch model, real AI deployments, and why innovation without empathy is empty.

BNPL, Creating win-win partnerships, Embedded Finance, Member Exclusive, SMB Finance

How embedded BNPL optimizes cash flow for SMBs: Inside the Intuit-Affirm partnership

• The Intuit-Affirm partnership embeds BNPL directly in QuickBooks invoices, transforming accounting into a real-time decision layer.
• In the new fintech partnership model, platforms manage workflows and customers while specialists handle the decision layer to drive scalable results.

AI Innovation, Artificial Intelligence, Banking, Innovation

Citizens’ CIO on the ethos that led the bank into the cloud and beyond

• Citizens CIO Michael Ruttledge explains how the bank modernized by moving entirely to the cloud.
• Ruttledge discusses cloud migration, AI deployment strategy, and building an innovation-driven organizational ethos.

Banking, Banking as a service

Affirm’s move to become a bank signals a reconfiguration for the BaaS industry and beyond

• Affirm and major fintechs are applying for bank charters to eliminate sponsor dependencies and improve economics.
• The shift from fintech-bank partnerships to direct competition calls into question legacy institutions' longtime market dominance.