Summary List PlacementChallenger banking is a crowded space, but upstarts like Chime and long-standing online-only players like Ally are growing fast. Each bank has a different approach. Some offer a combined checking and savings account with a debit. Others also lend. But across the board, what defines a challenger bank is that it's digital-only, meaning there aren't any branches. More and more, consumers are getting used to the idea of managing their financial lives without ever having to visit a bank branch. Funding hasn't slowed down for the venture-backed challenger banks.