Integrating artificial intelligence into the world of banking and finance must be a cooperative effort between the industry and regulators. It's important that the discussions start now.

Mobile banking features that encourage customers to set savings goals can supercharge customer loyalty and attract new primary banking customers. A renewed focus on consumer savings may also help banks offset the decline in deposits reported at many banks in 2023.

Bank CEOs are eyeing a near-term peak in deposit costs as the Fed perhaps moves closer to cutting interest rates. But the pressures they've faced this year as depositors ask for more compensation may not die down right away.

Internet-based banks are siphoning deposits away from urban centers in the U.S. and, unlike brick-and-mortar banks, face no requirement that they loan money back into those communities.

The 130-year-old Warsaw Federal Savings & Loan achieved a minority status after retooling its board this summer. Its CEO, who is also new to the job, has no plans to slow the pace of change at the depositor-owned bank.

Banks branches continue to shutter through October; First Carolina onboards fintech partner BM Technologies; ICBA announces its 2024 accelerator companies; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

The Georgia-based bank says it's expanding its relationship with GreenSky, a home improvement lender that Goldman Sachs bought in 2022 but put up for sale a year later. The deal will bring a one-time revenue boost and a recurring fee income stream.

The bank in Richmond, Virginia, failed to properly disclose its overdraft practices to roughly 8,500 consumers who enrolled by phone or in branches from 2017 to 2020, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The company admitted no wrongdoing.

Frustrated by its inability to overcome loan-servicing mistakes that triggered three separate regulatory consent orders, Discover Financial Services elected to sell its student loan business. "When we looked at it, we have perennial issues in our ability to service that portfolio," a top executive said.

Equity, based in Wichita, Kansas, has agreed to buy the parent company of the Bank of Kirksville. The combined company would have $5.4 billion of assets and 74 branches, including 23 in Missouri.

Too few lenders are underwriting unsecured consumer debt, which could help borrowers pay down credit card balances with little risk to lenders.

The nation's largest bank has already completed many of the branch closings that can boost its earnings, leaving it with "less and less accretive opportunities to consolidate," according to a top executive.

The Pennsylvania bank has agreed to sell its Exchange Underwriters subsidiary to World Insurance Associates for $30.5 million, saying that the deal will help pad its capital and liquidity.

The two companies announced the deal more than a year ago and had anticipated closing it in the first half of 2023. But advocacy groups have urged regulators to withhold approval, arguing that it will hurt consumers.

A small bank stock index posted its biggest gain of the year in early November before that progress faded. What will it take for investors to sustain confidence in the sector?

Wells Fargo is expanding into New York City's Hudson Yards, Mastercard launches a new generative AI-powered shopping tool, Banc of California closes PacWest acquisition and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

Expenses at Canada's second-biggest bank are higher than they should be, and the layoffs are one part of a plan to control costs going forward, executives say. Other Canadian banks including CIBC, Scotiabank and BMO have also shed workers this year.

Bakhshi looks back on her nearly four-decade career and reflects on what has changed in the industry over the years.

In November's roundup of top banking news: Citigroup approaches newest wave of job cuts and managerial shifts, Truist Financial nearly doubles most-senior executive leadership team, JPMorgan Chase faces regulatory inquiries and more.

Total loans at U.S. banks with less than $10 billion of assets grew by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. That was a slowdown from the previous quarter, and concerns about the viability of commercial real estate lending could dampen activity further.