U.S. Bancorp and Truist picked literal names for their virtual assistants to avoid confusing customers, while Fifth Third and Regions created characters called "Jeanie" and "Reggie" to put clients at ease. Other companies are trying to split the difference.

The bank is working with The Clearing House and real estate tech company EMTransfer and is hoping to cut paper and time from the process of selling property.

Cleveland-based KeyCorp posts a subdued profit in the wake of a loan loss provision that was more than six times greater than the level of fourth-quarter net charge-offs.

Only six years ago, KeyBank was nowhere to be found in a ranking of the top 25 banks for lending to developers of affordable housing. Last year, under the leadership of Angela Mago, the bank finished in the No. 2 spot, sandwiched between Citi at No. 1 and JP Morgan Chase at No. 3, according to Affordable Housing Finance.

Bank-issued prepaid benefits cards were supposed to help state governments deliver these funds more efficiently. But the pandemic scrambled the economics of these programs.

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.