Retail & Commercial

Big banks with the strongest financial performance varied in asset size, geographies and services.

Each of the top-performing banks with more than $50 billion of assets used their own mix of revenue streams to drive performance.

Washington Trust Bank is executing a slow-but-steady de novo expansion inside the I-5 corridor on the western side of its home state. Its newest branch is slated to open this fall in Tacoma.

The lender, which uses existing credit balances to fund installment loans, has linked to Samsung Pay and plans other partnerships in the future to build a global merchant network.

Affirm and FICO earlier this year took the first steps to incorporate buy now/pay later loans into consumer's credit reports. But it will be some time before lenders start making credit decisions based on the short-term installments, even if holdouts like Afterpay and Klarna decide to report to the credit bureaus.

The Ohio-based bank opened its first branch in Alabama, with plans to open 14 more over the next three years.

With its acquisition of a Cleveland-area bank still in the works, the Cincinnati-based bank struck a deal that would provide its first retail presence in Chicago.

Amid waning federal support for community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, a program launched by two banking trade groups is beginning to generate a steady stream of deposits for mission-focused lenders.

As regional bank consolidation heats up, Comerica, First Horizon and Banc of California are among the institutions that analysts see as the most likely targets for takeovers.

Junk bonds made Michael Milken the most important and richest person on Wall Street. But they caused many large thrifts to fail. Had he listened to his professors and pursued his Ph.D. in 1970, his legacy might have been different.