Umpqua Bank and Columbia Bank have agreed to merge, bringing together two West Coast institutions which have a combined $43B in deposits.

The U.S. Postal Service is launching a pilot program in four cities in an effort to deliver financial services to underserved Americans.

Google, which had planned to launch bank accounts under the Plex brand, announced it was abandoning the initiative in favor of “digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers.”

PayPal unveiled a new version of its app this week, which incorporates a host of new features that position itself to compete with neobanks.

JPMorgan Chase has launched a digital banking product to U.K. customers to rival challenger banks like Monzo and Starling on the one hand, and old-guard players like Goldman Sachs, Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest, and HSBC on the other.

Nerve, a neobank for musicians, aims to serve musicians with FDIC-insured accounts that help the musician separate their personal and financial lives; streaming and follower data; free instant payments to other Nerve users; and a networking feature that allows musicians to collaborate with one another.

Aspiration, an 8-year-old Los Angeles-based challenger bank, is going public through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company InterPrivate III Financial Partners Inc.

Neobank Chime, which reportedly has around 20 million customers, just closed a blockbuster $750M, bringing its valuation up to $25B and positioning it for an IPO in the first half of next year.

Payments unicorn Brex is withdrawing its industrial loan company (ILC) bank charter application to allow it to “modify and strengthen” it and resubmit at a future date.

Monzo, a longtime cool kid in the U.K. challenger bank club, is looking to get out of a Covid-related slump, reporting £114.8M (around $159M) in pre-tax losses last year.

Current, a New York-based digital banking fintech, announced that it’s partnering with The Bancorp Bank to offer an “enhanced suite of services across its entire product line, including its basic, premium and teen accounts.”

HMBradley, a neobank aimed at savers, is moving to an invite-only model amid “explosive demand,” the company said. HMBradley went from zero to $375M in deposits since March 2020.

Square, a company that has long been associated with nifty card readers, just took a leap into a broader financial services product potpourri with its latest rollout of banking products.

Digital banking startup Chime has hired 10 new lawyers this year as industry watchers attempt to read the tea leaves on the company’s possible IPO plans.

In a sweeping executive order signed Friday, July 9, President Joe Biden set forth a number of measures aimed at restricting anti-competitive practices.