SunTrust

Early adopters of The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network have built gateways and accelerated fraud detection systems.

Most general counsels are men, but in 2017 women filled more than half of the top legal positions that opened up at large financial firms. The trend is likely to continue as the population of women lawyers swells and banks continue to diversify their senior ranks.

Bank will add 400 branches and boost mortgage lending; the company attempts first acquisition since it nearly failed during the financial crisis.

Look for banks to boost dividend payouts, expand into new markets, increase their tech spending and, eventually, ramp up their C&I lending. But don't expect much in the way of M&A.

Citizens Financial, Regions and SunTrust reported strong gains in consumer banking, including loans made through partnerships with retailers and fintech lenders. They want to keep it up to compensate for slack in commercial lending.

Scott Case will rejoin SunTrust after having left the bank in October to become chief information officer at a health care information management company. He will replace Anil Cheriyan, who is retiring.

The new tax law helped boost fourth-quarter results at SunTrust Banks in Atlanta, while the recent rate hikes led to gains in spread income.

The elimination of a key deduction that had worked as a cap on CEO salaries, combined with investor pressure to maintain performance incentives, could lead to an upward drift in compensation for top executives of many banks.

SunTrust and First Republic are taking benefits they offer to their workers, such as financial wellness training and student debt repayment, and extending them to corporate clients as benefits they can offer to their own employees. In doing so, they are strengthening relationships with valuable commercial customers.

The railroad industry executive will replace Raymond Fortin as general counsel.