Underwriting has become more lenient amid increased competition for corporate borrowers, and as Paycheck Protection Program loans are disappearing from banks' balance sheets.

Wages, marketing spending and technology investments are all on the rise. While higher interest rates should eventually help tame inflation, it's not clear how quickly banks will be able to limit their spending increases.

Executives said record-high commercial loan commitments in the fourth quarter validate the San Antonio bank’s decision to open more than two dozen branches in Houston and pursue a similar path in Dallas.

The credit card issuer fielded questions about its fees two days after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a wide-ranging review of consumer charges. Executives said they would not take a big revenue hit even in the face of new limits.

Multifamily and specialty finance loans, which were highlights during the fourth quarter, should increase further in 2022, company executives said.

The North Carolina company will also eliminate nonsufficient-funds fees as it aims to keep pace with larger rivals, including Bank of America, that have revised their overdraft policies.

The expenses jumped 33% last quarter, which was generally in line with trends elsewhere in the credit card industry. The battle for new customers is “intense,” CEO Richard Fairbank told analysts.

The Florida company spent nearly $7 million in the fourth quarter on the payouts, which were made in recognition of work done during the pandemic.

U.S. bank stocks are headed for their worst losing streak in a year, burning investors who bought shares on expectations that the Federal Reserve raising rates for the first time since 2018 would boost the sector.

A few months ago bankers were more hopeful than confident about an end to depressed demand for business credit. Now CEOs at Huntington, Fifth Third, Mercantile Bank and other companies are touting strong fourth-quarter loan growth, burgeoning pipelines and local job creation as reasons for optimism.

Loans to car sellers plummeted earlier in the pandemic due to chip shortages that hampered vehicle production. But supply improvements since last fall have fueled the start of a rebound.

The Alabama company continues to explore buyouts of add-on businesses, part of a strategy that has already helped recoup dollars lost as a result of reforms to its overdraft practices.

JPMorgan Chase raised Chief Executive Jamie Dimon’s total compensation 10% to $34.5 million for his work in 2021, the firm’s most profitable year on record.

Fourth-quarter profits rose 10% at the Cleveland company as investment banking income hit a record and nonperforming loans plummeted. Executives say charge-offs will probably start rising in late 2022 but that fee income from capital markets transactions will keep growing.

The Buffalo, New York, bank is tweaking its loan mix and reducing some deposits in interest-bearing accounts. It says the moves should boost its net interest margin, which has declined in almost every quarter since the start of the pandemic.

Executives predict a 5% to 6% bump in lending this year, and they also say they'd be comfortable if up to a third of the Cincinnati company's excess cash migrates away.

The Tennessee bank reported an uptick in commercial lending during the fourth quarter. Executives pointed to the impact of a 2020 acquisition that allowed First Horizon to bulk up in in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.

Costs climbed 11% in the fourth quarter, but the Georgia company says it remains on track to generate $175 million by the end of this year through a combination of expense cuts and revenue enhancements.

The Boston company is forecasting larger earnings growth in the first year after closing its $3.5 billion deal than it projected in September. On the flip side, the acquisition will take longer to close than initially expected.

The government has become more skeptical of mergers, but the Minneapolis company expressed confidence it can maintain its original timeline for the $8 billion acquisition. Separately, it announced substantial changes to its overdraft program that will, among other things, eliminate fees for nonsufficient funds.