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.

Rising deposit costs and the likelihood of a slowdown in loan growth could stifle earnings, credit union executives say.

Mike Abbott, global banking lead at Accenture, predicts the trends that will change the way banks operate in the coming year, including a rate environment that hasn't been seen in more than a decade, a comeback for branches and soaring credit delinquencies.

Further interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve will force Bank of America to continue repricing deposits, which fell 6.5% in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, executives said.

Community banks and credit unions have pooled their resources and ideas to develop a bilingual challenger bank, banking-as-a-service playbook, cheaper alternative to Zelle and other innovations.

When the latest quarter's figures get added to it next week, that cumulative loss at the Platform Solutions unit — which includes Goldman's consumer lending operations — will approach $4 billion over three years and $2 billion for 2022, people with knowledge of the matter said.

A month after the National Community Reinvestment Coalition blasted KeyBank's mortgage lending record to Black borrowers, the group said it will send letters to the Federal Reserve and OCC about its findings.

The Cincinnati bank plans to close branches in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana and to open up to 35 locations in 2023.

AmeriServ Financial in Johnstown boosted earnings through the first nine months of 2022, but not enough to satisfy Abbott Cooper, who called the company a "prolonged underperformer."

Ryan Crowley, previously a Citigroup client-experience executive, replaces the unit's former chief operating officer, Pooja Daswani. The company also picked a CEO for its North America business and launched a search for a new wealth management chief.

Matthew Quale was formerly the president of Bask Bank, a standalone digital brand under Texas Capital Bancshares.