Kevin Wack is American Banker's national editor, and is based in southern California. He was formerly the publication's consumer finance reporter and its Capitol Hill correspondent. Earlier, he worked on financial policy in Washington. He has also reported for the Associated Press and worked as the investigative reporter for the Portland Press Herald in Maine.
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By becoming a bank, the digital-only challenger zigged when other fintechs zagged. Some of the short-term consequences of that decision — including heavy regulatory costs — are becoming clearer, but CEO Colin Walsh says the company is sticking with its long-term growth strategy.
May 14 -
A Federal Reserve proposal that would require banks to give merchants more choices in routing certain debit transactions could be a prelude to a more consequential change: a lower cap on interchange fees for banks with more than $10 billion of assets.
May 12 -
The banks disclosed this week that they are under scrutiny for conduct that may have harmed consumers. The timing raises questions about whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under President Biden is poised to bring more enforcement actions against large banks than it did under Trump-appointed Director Kathy Kraninger.
May 7 -
The online lender was not a party to the lawsuit involving the Federal Trade Commission and a payday lender, but it could emerge as one of the big winners from the Supreme Court’s decision.
May 4 -
A group representing bank directors says the regulator’s sudden attempt to increase penalties by millions of dollars would set a dangerous precedent.
April 29 -
The company, which recently acquired Radius Bancorp, still expects to lose at least $142 million this year and CEO Scott Sanborn did not provide a timeline for profitability. “We’re building this business for the long term,” he said.
April 28 -
Profits slumped last year and many investors are now voicing their displeasure with the compensation awarded to senior leaders. A nonbinding “say on pay” vote taken Tuesday passed narrowly, but Chairman Charles Noski indicated that the board will take the results into account when designing future pay packages.
April 27 -
The agency’s cases against David Julian, Claudia Russ Anderson and Paul McLinko, which allege culpability for the bank’s phony-accounts scandal, are scheduled to go to trial in September.
April 22 -
Surging used-car prices — brought on by a combination of strong consumer demand and limited new-vehicle supply — are boosting loan yields and profits at the Detroit company.
April 16 -
The Michigan lender agreed in 2012 to pay $133 million to resolve civil fraud charges tied to government-backed mortgages. But the deal with the Justice Department came with a catch that eventually allowed Flagstar to pay far less.
April 15
