Americans for Financial Reform wants investigations into the directors and executives of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank released before the Jan. 20 inauguration.

The chairman of the Federal Reserve presided over the worst inflation in 40 years, generating public outrage that paved the way for Donald Trump's victory in last month's election.

The industry hopes that the bigger hurdles to bank mergers under President Biden will fade in the new administration. But populist opposition to consolidation in the tech sector could spill over into banking.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that, although the Google Pay app has been discontinued, the bureau can make the determination based on past behavior, and that the tech giant could decide to reenter the person-to-person payment space.

Unity Bank in Clinton, NJ, now offers EV charging stations in a collaboration with Encore Energy Group; fintech Beneficient announced its agreement to acquire Puerto Rico-based Mercantile Bank; Trump named payments exec Jared Isaacman to run NASA; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman said Friday that regulators — chief among them the Fed itself — need to do more to combat check fraud, particularly the problem of smaller banks not being reimbursed by larger banks whose checks are altered.

After hurricanes and strikes stalled job growth in October, the economy added 227,000 jobs in November.