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.

Increases in charitable donations will be more important than ever for bank reputations, as tax breaks and a lighter touch from financial regulators rekindle public anger about the financial crisis.

They aren't creating new products, but some lenders are advising cash-strapped customers in high-tax states to tap home equity or other credit lines to prepay property taxes before the new tax law kicks in.

Regional and community banks will offer low-cost or no-cost financial products through Bank On, which has already reached agreements with Regions Bank, Wells Fargo and SunTrust.

It’s only early December, but bank CEOs’ comments this week about tax reform, their thirst for deposits, consumer lending initiatives, and challenges in commercial lending offer a sneak peek at what’s coming when earnings season begins next month.

SunTrust sold an insurance financing unit that it deemed noncore, but it is on the lookout to buy more complementary businesses such as a CRE lender it acquired last year.

The British banking giant has been testing its new online lending platform with a handful of its U.S. customers and plans to roll it out in full force next year. It's all part of a broader effort to expand its U.S. consumer business beyond credit cards.

It’s good to be a business lender with a long contact list. Loan growth is weak and the talent pool has been shrinking, so banks big and small are paying top dollar to get an edge.

Fintechs should learn to value risk management — and the necessary bureaucracy that comes with it, bankers said this week in defending themselves again criticism that they are a pain in the neck to work with.

Home equity lines could double over the next six years. Some banks are actively pursuing the consumer credit opportunity, whereas many still feel stung by the housing crisis, unimpressed by home equity’s comeback so far or fearful of nonbank competition and fraud.

Days after revealing he was in full remission from cancer, David H. Stevens said he is retiring as president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.