Retail & Commercial

Though loan growth was soft in the second quarter, the Raleigh, North Carolina, regional bank is seeing some hope for a second-half pickup. Meanwhile, it benefited from a 2% gain in net interest income.

The student loan giant fell far short of Wall Street's expectations, but its leaders say President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is likely to bring it billions of dollars in new business.

The Long Island-based company's second-quarter net loss was the seventh consecutive quarter in which it has reported a net loss. CEO Joseph Otting remained optimistic Friday about the bank's future, saying it should return to profitability in the fourth quarter.

Eagle Bancorp in Maryland took a major quarterly loss due to challenges in its office loan portfolio. It's one of many banks working to trim down their commercial real estate loan books.

The two Southeast banks agreed to combine in a transaction valued at $8.6 billion. Synovus CEO Kevin Blair would be chief executive of the combined bank, but a slim majority of board members would come from Pinnacle.

Flagstar Bank wants to merge its holding company into the bank, which would cut $15 million in annual expenses and eliminate regulatory oversight by the Federal Reserve, leaving the OCC as its primary regulator. The bank's CEO, Joseph Otting, is a former comptroller of the currency.

Fannie Mae also foresees more home sales than it did in June, but the Mortgage Bankers Association reduced its origination projections for 2025.

A coalition of consumer groups sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and acting Director Russell Vought for refusing to implement a statutorily mandated small-business data collection rule that is already tied up in litigation.

Among banks with between $10 billion and $50 billion of assets, those that targeted narrow lending markets rose to the top.

Growing loans was a tall order in 2024, but banks that could do just that were able to outperform their peers.