Retail & Commercial

Leaders of companies including Citizens, Comerica and Truist offered more upbeat assessments of loan demand and credit quality than they have in recent weeks. But others warned of weakness in key sectors such as energy and real estate, and said forbearance policies may be hiding potential pitfalls.

Flush with capital from the sale of its stake in BlackRock, PNC is willing to go big on an acquisition but would be wary of buying a bank with a heavy concentration of consumer loans, CEO William Demchak said.

Some lawmakers fear that when forbearance plans and enhanced unemployment coverage expire, the consequences for mortgage borrowers still affected by the pandemic will be severe.

Activity in the Paycheck Protection Program has slowed in recent weeks, but Customers Bancorp and Fountainhead Capital continue to pursue loans aggressively in hopes of developing long-term borrower relationships.

The industry granted about 21% of these loan applications after three months of record lows.

The global protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death should serve as a reminder that the banking industry must do more to support minority employees and customers.

The changes are meant to make the program more attractive for both business borrowers and the banks that make the loans; as workers trickle back to offices on Wall Street, they'll see a different landscape due to coronavirus concerns.

Financial institutions and prepaid card providers have played an unwitting role in scams that have stolen billions of dollars from state unemployment insurance programs, whose payouts soared after coronavirus shut down the economy.

Equifax Inc. said it’s begun opening offices at 50% capacity, part of a wave of firms preparing to reopen corporate America as the coronavirus pandemic begins to ebb.

The central bank will increase support for credit issued through the Main Street Lending Program while providing midsize firms with more flexibility on the amounts they receive.