Myriad payment innovations are cutting into old-school cash payments, changing how funds are accessed, spent and received for purposes ranging from in-store payments to accessing disaster recovery funds. Will these changes bring new communities into banking, or will it leave them behind?

There are many ways for the incoming administration to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule slashing overdraft late fees to $5. But the politics of nullifying the rule is a challenge to an administration that promised lower prices.

The Georgia-based bank plans to hire 85 relationship managers over the next three years to support growth in commercial and middle-market lending and private wealth. "The biggest risk is not being able to hire the bankers," said CEO Kevin Blair.

The bank ends the year with a substantially different profile from early 2024, which brought new leadership, a significant reduction to its mortgage operations and a corporate rebrand.

The combination would create a Northeast regional bank with nearly $24 billion of assets. It would rank as the eighth-largest bank in the Boston metropolitan area by deposit market share.

The president-elect confirmed that he will pursue a strategic reserve of the flagship cryptocurrency as part of a broader push for the U.S. to champion the digital asset industry.