With the rush to automate banking transactions during the coronavirus pandemic, companies offering banks the tools to create their own bots and automated spending analyzers are getting a boost.

U.K. challenger bank Monzo is putting its eggs into the competitive U.S. market. In pursuit of that goal, it appointed Carol Nelson, former CEO of Cascade Bank and senior vice president of Bank of America, as the company’s new U.S. CEO.

Goldman Sachs has hired Swati Bhatia, who was most recently chief of risk operations at payments giant Stripe, to head up the bank’s consumer banking business.

MoneyLion, a digital banking startup whose platform also offers lending and investing, is reportedly in talks to go public by merging with Fusion Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Goldman Sachs, which reported that profits more than doubled year-over-year (YoY) in the fourth quarter of 2020, is reportedly on the hunt for an acquisition to strengthen its Marcus consumer banking unit.

Reuters reports that NCR Corporation, an Atlanta-based company that makes ATMs and self-service payment kiosks for the retail and hospitality industries, has offered to buy Cardtronics for $1.73B in cash.

Green Dot, a bank holding company and banking-as-a-service provider behind more than 100,000 retail brands, launched GO2bank, a digital banking brand for low-to-moderate income customers.

Several prominent financial industry leaders condemned the actions of a group of President Donald Trump’s supporters who stormed Capitol Hill on Wednesday, January 6.

Food delivery platform DoorDash, which this month went public at a $60.2B valuation, is rolling out a banking solution for its workers that includes a prepaid visa card and mobile banking app.

TD Bank and CIBC this week announced enhanced capabilities for their AI banking assistants, in a bid to drive engagement and keep customers in their ecosystems.

Personal finance company SoFi, which in October got preliminary approval for a banking charter from the OCC, is exploring possibilities to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), according to a report from Reuters.

Step, a banking platform for teens, raised $50M in Series B financing led by Coatue, with participation from a range of known venture capital firms that are returning investors, alongside fintech executives from Visa, Venmo, Square, and Facebook. Celebrity investors include Dreamers VC (led by Will Smith), Tiktok star Charli D’Amelio, Justin Timberlake, The Chainsmokers, Eli Manning, and others.

Current, a New York-based digital banking startup, has picked up $131M in Series C funding, following a year of “exponential growth” for the company.

Growth in consumer accounts and a rush of revenue have propelled U.K.-based challenger bank Starling to break-even status, a feat few challenger banks have managed to pull off. The company reported an operating profit of £0.8M ($1M) for October, or £10M ($13.3M) on an annualized basis.

Daylight is a mobile-first digital banking platform launched to support LGBT+ people as they navigate their financial challenges.