Retail & Commercial

Both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the American Bankers Association are encouraging the industry to offer basic products that could bring more unbanked households into the financial mainstream.

The company will close eight locations, noting that customers have been quick to adopt digital channels during the coronavirus pandemic.

Southern Bancorp in Arkansas, which raised $35 million in capital from private investors, is out to prove that community development financial institutions can deliver attractive returns and fulfill their missions to help the underserved.

Citigroup is now the third, and largest, U.S. financial institution to offer the Mastercard True Name feature, which lets customers use their preferred name, rather than their legal name, on credit and debit cards. The cards are targeted specifically for transgender and nonbinary people, who often face outsized financial hardship.

Citigroup is now the third, and largest, U.S. financial institution to offer the Mastercard True Name feature, which lets customers use their preferred name, rather than their legal name, on credit and debit cards. The cards are targeted specifically for transgender and nonbinary people, who often face outsized financial hardship.

Gary Cohn, former head of the Trump administration’s National Economic Council and onetime top executive at Goldman Sachs, says technological changes will continue to make it harder for smaller financial institutions to compete and force many to be sold.

Over the past year, the Alabama bank has been developing new tools that analyze survey responses, phone interactions and social media posts to identify opportunities to improve digital offerings.

First City Bank of Florida had suffered “longstanding capital and asset quality issues” that were unrelated to the pandemic, the FDIC said.

Strong mortgage and capital markets activity helped offset credit costs and one-time items in the third quarter at Citizens Financial Group. In a period of low rates, CEO Bruce Van Saun says he’d like to buy more fee-generating businesses.

The auto lender says consumers’ skittishness about flying and using public transit during the pandemic has fueled a surge in demand for new and used cars. But executives remain wary of high unemployment and the potential for a rise in loan defaults.