With the recent shift in FinTech news and hype moving toward artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain almost started to seem like last year's model. At the same time, predictions that 2017 would see real pilots are starting to come to fruition.

Banks and FinTechs should "put down their swords," as Mary Wisniewski put it in a widely shared American Banker opinion piece, "There are no heroes or villains in the data-access debate."

Many banks and FinTechs are doing just that. Yet culture stands in the way as much as anything else—on both sides, as this week's links show.

FinTech is not just FinTech anymore

The article that most caught my attention this week came from Ron Shevlin, director of research at bank advisory Cornerstone Advisors. "FinTech—as a set of startups or a class of technology—is hardly failing," the bank snarketer (look it up) writes in debunking a startup founder's reasons that FinTech is failing.

Chatbots in banking, the banks that do APIs well, and the rise of open banking. This week's FinTech links provide a look at the shifts in technology that can move banks away from consumers and provide consumers a way to gain greater control over their banking experience.

And then there's the genuine coin of the realm, in the form of paper money. National Public Radio reports that 80 percent of U.S. currency circulates in hundred dollar bills—"Franklins"—but nobody really knows where they are.

Co-authored with Jake Crampton

Market forces demand constant performance improvement and optimization of resources and assets. In today’s complex healthcare marketplace, agility, efficiency and quality are the new drivers of success. To successfully compete, healthcare systems will need to overcome their preferences for "owning" sub-optimal business functions and align with strategic partners that can deliver superior products and services.

It's a bit of a cheap headline, I'll admit, but I've been reading about the so-called populism that the current U.S. president has tapped into and wondered what it has to do with financial technology. FinTech has been styled as a way to empower people, and that's basically where populism started.

"Populism" in the most generic sense refers to a concern for the common people. It also carries the charge of dissing establishment types, whether they are politicians, intellectuals, media types—maybe even banks.

Thought leaders continue to point to trends that banks and FinTech insiders need to pay attention to, ranging from the use of big data to FinTech firms like Stash and Betterment, which are reshaping wealth management. Faster payments, mobile payments, and blockchain systems will accelerate their development this year.

Fed issues report on faster payments initiative

In January 2016, the global banks proclaimed that they are all FinTech innovators now, reported Bloomberg in its coverage of the annual World Economic Forum conference in Davos.

Along with economic and political uncertainty in the United States and abroad come predictions for 2017 on the possible rebirth of banks and the final death of cash. Maybe.

Co-authored with Richard A. Kimball, Jr.

Professional football has long since surpassed baseball as America’s most popular sport. The NFL’s Super Bowl is a national party. Super Bowls represent 19 of America’s 20 most-watched TV broadcasts.

115 million people tuned in for 2015’s thrilling New England Patriots-Seattle Seahawks contest. By contrast, only 40 million watch the historic deciding game of last year’s World Series when the hapless Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians for their first championship since 1908 (any team can have a bad century).