MINNEAPOLIS -- Metropolitan Financial Corp. said it obtained approval from the Office of Thrift Supervision to acquire American Charter Federal Savings and Loan Association of Lincoln, Neb., and merge it into Metropolitan Federal Bank of Fargo, N.D.
The companies said the deal will close within a month and American Charter's 27 offices will become branches of Metropolitan Federal.
American Charter will add $984 million in assets to Metropolitan Financial's $5.1 billion.
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."
