Retail & Commercial

JPMorgan Chase will launch a digital retail bank in the U.K. next week, the first step in the firm’s plans to expand its consumer business overseas.

The agency organized a vehicle seeded with $120 million from anchor investors — including Truist and Microsoft — enabling minority-owned banks and community development financial institutions to seek capital for development projects in underserved areas.

The all-stock acquisition of South Dakota-based Great Western would create a regional bank with $32 billion of assets and more than 300 branches in 14 states.

After exiting the business roughly 20 years ago, the San Antonio bank is working with tech consultant Infosys to help it build out a digital consumer lending business that will include home loans.

Executives at JPMorgan Chase, Capital One and U.S. Bancorp all spoke this week about plans to take on upstarts that offer interest-free financing on consumer purchases. The increased competition figures to result in tighter margins across the category.

The Cincinnati bank, which last month closed its purchase of the health care lender Provide, has raised its estimate for the unit’s 2021 loan volume.

The $6.2-billion asset bank said President Logan Pichel will add the title of CEO on Oct. 1, succeeding Steve Trager.

Buying the point-of-sale loan provider would give Goldman Sachs access to a network of millions of consumers and thousands of merchants that the bank would have difficulty building on its own, said Stephanie Cohen, its global co-head of consumer and wealth management.

The deal to buy Happy Bancshares enables Arkansas-based Home to expand into Dallas and Austin and could provide a springboard for more acquisitions in the Lone Star State.

Large banks have received CRA credit for Paycheck Protection Program loans and all types of modifications two to three times more frequently than small banks. The latter need to press examiners to recognize the contribution they’ve made to their communities.