Retail & Commercial

The 30-year average has risen by more than a full percentage point in a little over a month.

The banking company did not say what policy longtime CEO Alan Thian violated, nor has it named a permanent successor. Thian has led RBB since it was founded in 2008.

CEO Jamie Dimon cited elevated risks related to inflation and the war in Ukraine as the nation’s largest bank added $902 million in loan-loss reserves. “Does this represent conservatism in an uncertain macro environment or something more onerous?” one analyst asked.

Mike Roffler, the San Francisco bank’s incoming chief executive, says he’s not shifting strategy. During the first quarter, the company leaned on its mortgage business, where customers moved to lock in refinancings before interest rates rose.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has the legal authority to adjust maximum late fees that issuers may charge. The Consumer Bankers Association predicts the agency will reduce the limits as part of its crackdown on "junk fees" and to soften the impact of inflation on cardholders.

As inflation increases, more companies are shifting to remote and hybrid work to get their costs under control. Landlords could face rising vacancies and tumbling revenue, leaving them behind on loan payments.

Banks have supported initiatives aimed at closing the racial equality gap but the industry risks undermining this by fighting new rules to gather demographic data on small-business lending.

The loss was driven by “funding spread widening as well as credit-valuation adjustments relating to both increases in commodities exposures and markdowns of derivatives receivables from Russia-associated counterparties,” the company said. 

California and New York were the first states to require the disclosure of certain pricing information to small-business borrowers. But as Utah, Virginia and other states add regulations for nonbank lenders, a fault line has emerged over the use of annual percentage rates.

Spence, who joined the Cincinnati bank in 2015, will succeed Greg Carmichael as chief executive in July. He says he’ll maintain the company’s current strategic priorities, including regional expansion and digital transformation.