Famous for his hand-typed "Guenther-gram" messages, the longtime Independent Community Bankers of America CEO played a critical role in boosting the trade group's political clout after it moved to Washington from Sauk Centre, Minnesota, in 1982.

As the phony-accounts scandal is brewing in 2014, the executive who functions as the top cop inside Wells Fargo gets shown the door.

The $41.2 billion-asset Los Angeles bank says it will wind down its premium finance and multifamily lending segments and intentionally slow loan growth.

Indexes show heightened expectations for a recession and souring loans. But executives are upbeat about middle-market businesses and overall job growth.

Banks need to be cautious about negotiating pre-merger Community Benefit Agreements with nationwide activist groups. The deals carry real reputational hazard.

Technology that was seen as best-in-class 10 years ago is practically table stakes for banks today and does not differentiate one bank from another. Branches do.

Almost a fifth of U.S. banks are offering savings rates of 2% or more, a huge spike from a year ago, according to new data. Banks are paying more out of fear their customers will flee to competitors offering higher rates.

While branch closings remain the norm throughout the industry, the hunt for suddenly scarce deposits is prompting some community banks to move in the opposite direction and expand their branch networks.

The McLean, Virginia-based bank is building its deposit base — in contrast with many banks that are starting to see outflows. But the growth is accompanied by rising interest expenses, which are expected to cut modestly into profit margins this year.

Members of the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee expect gross domestic product to stall in 2023. Other surveys show a modest contraction. Lenders say sentiment among their borrowers also points to a slight slowdown.

Unrelenting pressure to improve efficiency could keep bank merger activity steady or even accelerate it despite several economic and regulatory factors except for one — credit quality, say two veteran Piper Sandler dealmakers.

The declining credit quality included more borrowers with higher credit scores falling behind on their credit card payments. But executives said the increase remains within expectations as it continues seeing "very linear normalization" in credit.

The Wall Street Journal reported the Fed is investigating Goldman Sachs' Marcus division, the company's effort to reach U.S. consumers that has been scaled back. The New York bank's stock fell 2.5% after the news.

More consumers are struggling to pay their auto loans from Detroit-based Ally, but CEO Jeffrey Brown says executives "feel very good" about their preparations for a downturn. Investors appeared to like his message as its stock jumped 19%.

Most borrowers cannot understand the information that TILA requires lenders to provide, raising questions about their utility in consumer protection.

The Texas bank will let customers go through the entire process on their phones, at the same time that it emphasizes human service that is not impacted by commissions.

Many bank CEOs see the end of work from home coming soon, but other industry leaders are not so sure. Meanwhile, much empty office space lies waiting in limbo.

The digital bank for small businesses is partnering with the financial software company Ramp to help its customers apply for corporate cards and access expense management and bill pay software.

Community bankers already have decades of experience managing concentration risks and responding to extreme weather events and natural disasters in their communities.

Goldman Sachs provided more details on its pullback from its once-grand ambitions to expand into consumer finance. Though parts of that strategy will remain, the New York bank will halt its personal loan business and postpone offering a checking account for its wealth management customers.