5. Marcus by Goldman Sachs: Lending the Goldman Way

Looking for a lender with the feel of a startup, but with the Goldman Sachs touch? Luckily, the bank’s newly launched online lending platform, which made its debut last year and was accompanied at launch by this series of videos from Goldman’s first advertising campaign, ever, is now open for business. And that’s fully open for business, as users no longer need an invitation code, sent by the bank, to access the platform.

Currently, the bank’s digital lender–named Marcus for one of its founders — offers loans from $3,500 up to $30,000, and users can set their own loan amount as well as the amount of their monthly payment.

Goldman is holding those loans itself, offering a bit more security than most online lenders — and most banks — can typically offer.

6. IBM: AI, Blockchain and Mobile Payments

Everyone knows Big Blue is big in banking — all the larger banks are IBM’s customers — but, well, it’s just so boring. Mainframes, analytics, and spreadsheets that give you headaches… but no more!

IBM is leveraging its artificial intelligence engine Watson to help banks become smarter and nimbler. Watson helps banks not only in call centers and text-based chats, but also in predicting needs and making suggestions in a wide array of banking contexts.

IBM is also pouring resources into blockchain projects — five “garages” around the globe to test concepts and help banks run blockchain tests on their own. It’s also a major player in the Hyperledger Project (as seen on this list), helping banks and fintech startups alike build applications on top of distributed ledgers. IBM also – the surprise of many – got into the business of mobile payments with IBM Pay, introduced at Money20/20 last year. It’s helping banks manage compliance and is an established force in cloud computing. Banks are slowly but steadily migrating operations to the cloud.