In recent years, it’s been made evident to us that the World Economic Forum never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. That became abundantly clear after speaking to several people who recently returned from Davos. Yes, it’s true that the foundation behind the annual Davos forum has increased the amount of programming dedicated to acknowledging the problematic effects of globalism.

There’s always talk of whether investment in fintech firms will begin to slow down, or even dry up one day soon. Some have spoken of a fintech bubble; but things appear to still be going well for fintechs... or at least the more established and notable ones.

Artificial intelligence has probably at this point displaced the blockchain as the most buzzed about (and written about and falsely characterized) technology there is. There’s no shortage of Ted talks and think pieces about how AI will affect — or replace — workers in virtually every industry.

As foreign challenger banks and US financial services entities of all stripes eye the US digital bank market opportunity, Varo Money is a name to watch closely. Led by Colin Walsh and backed by Warburg Pincus and the Rise Fund, Varo was granted preliminary approval by the OCC to form a de novo national bank last September.

One thing that’s clear is that the future of retail banking is all about the customer journey. For example, take The Financial Brand’s Top 10 Retail Banking Trends for 2019. The annual report found that “For the first time ever, the use of data, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced analytics was ranked first, replacing improving the customer experience as the number one trend…the importance of innovation was also a trend that increased in importance in this year’s survey.”

Stock exchange operator IEX Group made waves this week when it released a report claiming that rival exchanges charge much more for market data compared to what it costs to produce.