NEW YORK - IBCA, the European rating agency, raised its long-term rating for Fint Bank System Inc. of Minneapolis to A from A-minus.
First Bank's short-term rating was raised to Al from A2. The long-term rating of the company's lead bank was raised to A-Plus from A.
IBCA cited the "steady advance" in First Bank's performance and capital levels in the past two years. The ratings affect about $300 million in long-term debt.
The top five banks and thrifts have combined total assets of nearly $13 trillion.
After several quarters of slumping investment banking and trading fees, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company reported a big uptick from that division, which helped compensate for a large decline in net interest income.
The Federal Reserve's Office of the Inspector General says the Fed has yet to fulfill 65 recommendations, and also identified 18 outstanding issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The bank will use biometric authentication to streamline checkout in stores starting in 2025. It has already completed internal and external pilots of the technology.
Banks reported nearly $27 billion had been tied up in scams or theft against elderly people in a recent 12-month period, according to a report from the U.S. Treasury.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says it's ready to wind down the global systemically important banks. But until that happens, many in the banking industry are skeptical that regulators have actually developed a workable strategy to end "too big to fail."
