The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that as financial-technology upstarts gain momentum and grow by the thousands, the banks are growing nervous. The Globe's David Berman writes that independent innovative forces threaten to nibble away at the banks' core franchises or carve out new markets that are particularly appealing to millennials. Still, major hurdles remain for the small players. The fight for consumer attention in an increasingly crowded space will not be easy, and wooing customers away from the banks is a challenge. However, on top of the challenges posed by small start-ups is a deeper, longer-term threat: Some of the largest companies in the world have designs on breaking into financial services -- including Google and Apple. Bank of Nova Scotia's tone from the top is, "At Scotiabank, we're embracing the digital transformation." Leading the tech charge are Michael Zerbs and Kyle McNamara, co-heads of information technology. Among Scotiabank's partnerships and innovations is Digital Factory. It also launched the Scotiabank Centre for Customer Analytics, in partnership with the Smith School of Business at Queen's University, and it invested in Kabbage, an on-line lender.