New leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including the likely nomination of Rohit Chopra as director, is fueling industry speculation around possible changes to the credit system, credit bureaus, and high-interest lending.

We are almost into February and the growth of the SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) route to taking fintech companies public shows no sign of abating.

LendingClub, the publicly-traded digital-lending marketplace, got the green light from regulators to complete the acquisition of Radius Bank, after getting preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December.

Rent-A-Center, a retailer that offers home furnishings, appliances, and electronics, on a lease-to-own basis, is planning to acquire digital lease-to-own provider Acima Holdings in a $1.65B cash and stock transaction.

PrimaHealth Credit, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based lender, is taking the popular point-of-sale shopping model for retail and applying it to elective medical procedures.

Affirm, an 8-year-old ‘buy now, pay later’ firm founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, filed to go public amid doubling year-over-year revenue in the third quarter and narrowing losses.

New York City-based fintech Payability is adding electronics marketplace Newegg to its list of e-commerce partners through an offering called Newegg Capital.

Twitter and the Opportunity Finance Network announced the creation of the Finance Justice Fund, which aims to bring $1B in capital from corporate and philanthropic donors to underserved individuals and communities.

Sifted reports that a company run by the brother of deceased Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is suing point-of-sale lender Klarna for millions.

Financial product marketplace NerdWallet acquired Fundera, a platform that allows small business owners to compare loan offerings.

Point-of-sale lender Klarna, a global company worth $10.6B, is in hot water with a U.K. privacy watchdog over unsolicited emails it sent to some consumers encouraging them to use the point-of-sale loan offering despite never having used it.

Retailer Macy’s is putting a lot of eggs in its “buy now, pay later,” basket, with an undisclosed investment in point-of-sale lender Klarna and a five-year partnership that will allow Macy’s customers to pay for goods in interest-free installments.

PayPal-owned peer-to-peer payments app Venmo launched a credit card issued by Synchrony Bank, powered by the Visa network.

Data aggregator Finicity, which Mastercard agreed to acquire in June in a deal valued at nearly $1B, launched a new product suite called Finicity Lend, which is designed to help lenders reach more consumers through a closer line of sight on transactions.

Germany-based Monedo, a lending startup that was once valued at €230M ($273M), has filed for bankruptcy.