Branches across the country have closed temporarily, or switched to drive-thru service, as infections and quarantine rules have forced many bank workers to stay home.

First Premier Bank in South Dakota revamped its online sign-up process to allow customers to name the banker who referred them. This helps bankers overcome their reluctance about digital accounts and lets them start relationships with new customers.

The bank, which donated a total of $1.6 million in 2020 and 2021, endowed the new organization with $4 million.

Spain’s biggest lender accidentally made a second payment to about 75,000 people and firms who had been due payments from businesses with accounts at its U.K. unit.

The community bank leverage ratio is set to revert to its prepandemic level of 9% on Jan. 1. Bankers say the move is premature and are supporting a bill that would keep the ratio at or below 8.5% through 2024.

Many previously unbanked consumers are flocking to the banks that provide accounts with no overdraft or debit card fees and minimum opening balances of $25, according to a new report from the St. Louis Fed.

The community bank said it would will not renew their employment contracts, which terminate March 20, but that it intends to keep them as executives.

The lender will start by cross-selling Digit's products, then gradually consolidate the two companies' platforms. Meanwhile, Oportun is working to put questions about its collections practices behind it.

To strengthen ties with entrepreneurs, Citizens Bank of Edmond in Oklahoma and the de novo Genesis Bank in California offer co-working, education and other resources.

Banks that help customers avoid missing important payments are providing a valuable service for which they should be compensated. Though some banks use deceptive practices, customers are willing to pay for a transparent service.

The buyer, Union Bank of the Philippines, will pay about $904 million for Citi's local credit card, unsecured lending, deposit, brokerage and investment businesses.

These executives are adapting to changing customer demands amid rebounding M&A and coronavirus-related challenges.

The state Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a cease-and-desist order against Nano Banc, saying the troubled bank violated an earlier consent agreement when it replaced five board members and appointed a new CEO without the regulator’s permission.

Eli Tinsley, the bank's chief banking officer, was promoted to president and chief executive.

The Oklahoma bank is eager to take the ground some competitors are ceding in oil and gas financing.

Alloy Labs Alliance, a consortium of community banks, is working with the fintech Payrailz on a project called "Chuck" that would route peer-to-peer payments over different networks, based on which is least expensive for each transaction.

Some established financial technology companies like Robinhood are said to be refusing to accept funds from accounts at young digital-only banks that they say are growing too fast to deter fraud. The companies being blocked respond that it’s an unfair, scattershot approach.

The acquisition would give Avadian, which is based in Birmingham, two more locations in its home state and increase its assets to approximately $1.2 billion.

The consumer bureau asked for public feedback about payment platforms as part of a focus on the Silicon Valley giants’ financial services aspirations. But comment letters so far have been dominated by users complaining that they lost money on the big-bank-owned peer-to-peer network.

The year's biggest storylines included an M&A revival, a reexamination of overdraft fees, a changing of the guard in Washington and the rise of new technologies. Here's a look back.