South African bank's approach to chatbots offers lessons for U.S. players

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Absa Group is drawing on global training data from the fintech Kasisto and annotators who review conversations with clients to help in fine-tuning its virtual assistant.

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Small lenders embrace automation for latest PPP round

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First Bank in New Jersey, Northeast Bank in Maine and others have warmed to the idea of using software to streamline Paycheck Protection Program lending so that employees can be more hands-on with customers.

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Citi shuffles consumer banking leadership team

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In a memo to staff on Tuesday, Citigroup announced a new head of U.S. consumer banking and said that two of its other high-ranking bankers would essentially switch roles.

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Are Treasury, FHFA running out of time to approve GSE capital boost?

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The agency that supervises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has pushed for revising an agreement with the Treasury Department allowing the mortgage giants to retain their profits. A deal could be out of reach once Joe Biden takes office.

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Canadian banks eye U.S. acquisitions

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Flush with excess capital, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank and others say they might be in the market to do a cross-border deal.

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What banks, fintechs can learn from Simple's rise and sudden death

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BBVA's acquisition of Simple, the first neobank, was closely watched as a possible model for others in the industry. But the shutdown last week of Simple has again stirred a debate about whether upstarts and traditional players can ever fit together.

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In a first, OCC grants federal charter to crypto firm

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A co-founder of Anchorage Trust Co. said its digital bank, which will not take insured deposits, will enable the company to strengthen partnerships with financial institutions that offer custody services for clients' cryptocurrency assets.

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SBA expanding PPP to small banks on Friday

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The Small Business Administration will allow lenders with less than $1 billion of assets to process applications in two days. The portal will open to all lenders on Tuesday.

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Citi reorganizes wealth management units under one umbrella

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The new global wealth division, which is being formed by combining the firm's private bank with a unit that serves substantially less wealthy households, will be led by Citi veteran Jim O'Donnell.

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Uncertainty looms over PPP's relaunch

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Bankers have several unanswered questions about the Paycheck Protection Program before it reopens to select lenders on Monday. Among them: When will forms be available, and which portal will the Small Business Administration use?

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