Banking News from American Banker

Enova International, a nonbank lender in Chicago, plans to gain scale by taking over Grasshopper Bank's national bank charter. The deal already faces skepticism from critics of Enova's high-cost lending model.

The firm's consumer account, which offers a 3.5% yield on savings, could appeal to the founders of startups that it already serves.

The largest bank deal to be announced in 2025 is still on track to close in the first quarter of next year, Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence said. His comments came amid opposition to various aspects of the deal, as well as how it came together and the timeline for closing the transaction.

Charlie Scharf has a mostly optimistic take on Wells' consumer banking prospects entering 2026. But he's more downbeat about the company's once-dominant residential mortgage business.

The student lending giant offered forecasts of future earnings that were far below Wall Street's expectations. In recent months, Sallie Mae has been upbeat about the new opportunities it sees under the Trump administration.

KeyCorp CEO Chris Gorman said Tuesday that the bank has doubled its buyback plans for the fourth quarter and laid out a new long-term profitability target. The comments came a few days after HoldCo Asset Management issued a scathing report about the bank's performance.

New rules means sellers and servicers will need to have plans demonstrating proper oversight of their artificial intelligence and machine learning practices.

The all-stock acquisition of Mountain Commerce Bancorp in Knoxville marks the Arkansas-based company's first M&A foray since 2022.

Through a nonprofit called Greater NY, early career analysts at banks can apply their financial skills at charities and other civic-minded organizations. The partnerships give free help to nonprofits, but provide surprising benefits to the banks as well.

Danny Seibel, who led First National Bank of Lindsay from 2007 until shortly before the bank's failure last year, is accused of falsifying bank documents to conceal the condition of loans.

JPMorgan's Ben Carpenter will join Evercore as a senior managing director; Wells Fargo appoints Jackie Krese to head syndications within its fund finance group; the SEC is probing Jefferies over its relationship to bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands Group; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

More than 400,000 consumers may be affected after Marquis Software Solutions suffered a breach traced to a bug in SonicWall software disclosed last year.

Midland States Bancorp has completed three major asset sales in the past 12 months, exiting national business lines and shifting focus to its core community banking franchise.

The Canadian bank is determined to grow its U.S. business organically, CEO Darryl White said Thursday. But with so much excess capital, analysts wondered about the bank's appetite for M&A.

The Canadian bank still has more work to do as it rolls out additional processes, technology and training. TD will also have to prove to regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice that its actions are sustainable.

After two successful international expansions, Junqueira aims to bring Nubank's products to U.S. consumers even as the neobank faces strong competition from U.S.-based banks and fintechs.

In a sternly worded letter, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters demanded to know why federal agencies haven't provided more guidance since the one-cent coin was discontinued. They accused the Trump administration of making an "abrupt and unilateral decision" without thinking it through.

Royal Bank of Canada now expects to achieve an annual return on equity of at least 17% by 2027, executives said Wednesday, up one percentage point from the bank's earlier goal.

South Plains Financial agreed to pay $105.1 million in stock to acquire a seven-year-old Houston community bank in its first M&A foray since 2019.

Financial institutions see an opportunity to nab scale after years of tepid dealmaking, but investors are pushing back against such efforts out of concerns about shareholder value.