Community Banking

Treasury laid off all of its Community Development Financial Institution Fund staff on Friday, with the reduction in force notices saying that the department plans on abolishing the fund.

A number of banks experienced major increases in 7(a) lending activity during SBA's recently completed fiscal year, as program-wide loan volume topped $37 billion for the first time.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr is warning small banks about the growing threat from fraudsters' use of AI-generated deepfakes. But he also says AI may be able to help community banks fight fraud more effectively.

In a new survey, 28.4% of community banks said that regulation represented an "extremely important" risk, down from 44.1% last year.

The Fairmont, West Virginia, bank is taking a $7.6 million hit to rid itself of $73 million in long-duration, low-yielding securities, though the sale of its payments subsidiary the week before cushions the blow.

The fund is designed to generate a financial return, as well as Community Reinvestment Act credit, for TD. Its inaugural investment is in a mixed-use project that will include 49 affordable housing units.

In a break from a 20-year history marked by losses and scandal, California International Bank in Westminster is on pace for its biggest-ever profit, its CEO says.

Though small banks have a durable customer base in the small-business sector, the decades-long consolidation trend will likely speed up, according to a new report from Morningstar DBRS.

BayFirst Financial in St. Petersburg shuttered a national small-dollar 7(a) loan program in August. Now the $2.4 billion institution, which has been one of the nation's most active SBA lenders over the past decade, is making a clean break from the business.