TORONTO – NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson has been meeting this week with key lawmakers to discuss several agency initiatives, including a request to amend the Federal CU Act so that all credit unions will be able to add underserved communities to their fields of membership. Johnson’s effort comes as NCUA was forced to restrict the underserved expansions program to multiple group charters after the American Bankers Association sued to bar community and single-group charters from the underserved program. The NCUA Chairman told The Credit Union Journal during NAFCU’s annual convention that she has received a positive reception from members of Congress, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley, Rep. Barney Frank, the ranking Democrat on the panel, and Sen. Daniel Akaka, as she explains the agency’s efforts to increase credit unions’ capacity to provide services to the neediest Americans.
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Synovus Financial demonstrated at an industry conference how it is using Microsoft's Copilot to help its staff address customers' concerns.
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The U.S. arm of Spanish banking giant Santander has hired Swati Bhatia to oversee retail banking and its digital transformation efforts. Bhatia joins at "an inflection point" for the company, which aims to be "a digital bank with branches," CEO Tim Wennes said.
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Mariya Rosberg is named Americas head of banking and financial services at Marsh McLennan's Oliver Wyman unit; startup ZayZoon raised $15 million in a new funding round; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.
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Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.
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Once a prominent figure spurring financial institutions to engage in cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried's downslide began with the collapse of the digital asset exchange FTX in late 2022 and hit rock bottom with his sentencing to 25 years in prison.
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But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.
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