TYLER, Texas - (03/10/06) -- Police believe a two violent robberswho hit First State Bank in Palestine are the same ones responsiblefor recent hold-ups at five other area institutions, including twocredit unions. The First State Bank robbers had similar 'M.O.'s' asthose in the other robberies; they leaped over the teller counters,rifled through the cash drawers, then escaped in stolen vehicles,police said. The pair, called the Takeover Bandits by police, arebelieved responsible for armed robberies at Kelly FCU, in Tyler,and East Texas Professional CU, as well as at Austin Bank, CitizensState Bank and Bank of America. In each case, the robbers stolegetaway cars a day before the robbery, then abandoned them invarious locations afterwards. All of them also occurred early inthe morning, with no customers present.
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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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