Federal regulators are on the verge of creating a brand new type of banking license specifically for fintech.  Called “special purpose national bank charters,” the licenses are intended to enable fintech companies that accept deposits, facilitate e-payments, or lend money to expand more quickly across the country – NYTimes and Law360 and WSJ

The Upshot analyzes last Friday’s jobs numbers and deems them the start of another era of “mercifully boring” economic and financial outlooks.  [We’ll see] – NYTimes

The Journal, meanwhile, goes all in on charts – WSJ

It was a rough weekend for world leaders – WSJ & WSJ

We’ve been keeping an eye on the contract-for-deed boom in the housing world.  And we’re not the only ones.  Last week, the CFPB filed a lawsuit in Michigan federal court to require an investment firm big in the industry to comply with an earlier demand for docs as part of the agency’s civil investigation – NYTimes

Deutsche Bank’s done with another big lawsuit, reportedly paying $60 million to extract itself from allegations that it engaged in illegal price-fixing of the gold market – Law360

RBS is seeking to resolve lingering claims (these, related to shareholder rights), too – NYTimes

The Delaware Chancery court has kicked derivative claims over BNY Mellon’s handling of Forex transactions, finding that “shareholders hadn’t shown the board acted improperly in deciding not to sue top executives based on their claims” – Law360

A look at the 59-year-old [not-retiring] Japanese billionaire behind SoftBank (and Sprint, and a whole lot else) who acts on instinct and has visions for a changed world with his company’s tech at the center of it all – NYTimes

Let’s make a reach of a connection and call it nature’s holiday lights.  Maybe?  Anyway, here’s a pretty great piece on bioluminescence – Wired