News and Information from American Banker

The Federal Reserve's April financial stability report found that asset valuations remain elevated, even as investors are beginning to demand more compensation for risk amid rising uncertainty around monetary policy.

Banking groups that sued the state of Illinois over its law barring banks from charging interchange fees on taxes and tips cheered an appeals court ruling remanding the law to a lower court and vowed to keep the law going into effect, which is slated for July 1.

Stephan Feldgoise and Joshua Schiffrin will join Goldman Sachs' management committee; Fidelity Investments is dismissing about 800 personnel as it restructures its technology and product-delivery teams; Citi has hired JPMorgan's André Ross as its country officer and banking head for South Africa; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Affirm CEO Max Levchin said that the company did not have any plans for AI-spurred layoffs despite the fact that it was using the technology more for software engineering.

Leaders from Wells Fargo, JPMorganChase and more talked about how banks can respond to the fast-moving changes in money movement, new forms of artificial intelligence, fraud, digital assets and more.

The payments company posted strong adjusted earnings following a dramatic downsizing, which management attributed to the influence of artificial intelligence.

The Securities and Exchange Commission initially offered $179.5 million to Michael Bacon, who provided key information to the government about Wells Fargo's fake-accounts scandal. But shortly after SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins took office, the amount was sharply reduced.

Bankers and tech executives at SAS' annual conference said agentic AI is still in the "terrible twos" stage and requires human supervision.

The 21st century financial system that digital currency promised is being built, but by banks, not by the bitcoin crowd.

Employers hired an additional 115,000 workers in April, while unemployment remained unchanged at 4.3%. Despite the positive headline figure, a spike in newly unemployed workers and a rising number of underemployed workers suggests instability under the surface.

The revelation that Mythos, the latest version of Anthropic's Claude large language model, can unearth unknown vulnerabilities in computer systems and websites is a crisis moment, especially for community banks.

Almost 60 SBA loans originated by Community Bank & Trust — West Georgia were classified as noncurrent, according to Small Business Administration records. Last week, Community became the second U.S. bank to fail in 2026.

Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook said Friday that she believes tokenization could improve efficiency across the financial system, including faster settlement times and more effective recordkeeping. But those advantages will take place within traditional finance rather than supplanting it, she said.

The Treasury Department held a high-stakes huddle with state insurance officials to discuss risks associated with the rapid growth of private credit in the economy and whether those investments could pose systemic vulnerabilities.

The lenders' examples of using generative artificial intelligence were more practical than transformational, but in any case data challenges represent a common problem.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, warned in a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Thursday that its proposed rollback leaves regional banks dangerously unsupervised.

The measure, sent Thursday to the governor's desk, would mark the second state ban on interchange fees and could inform an ongoing bank-led legal challenge to a similar Illinois law.

An April 20 bankruptcy filing accuses Kfir Gavrieli of recruiting friends, family and his synagogue to sign sham contracts that inflated Aspiration's revenue.

Research from American Banker shows that at least a quarter of all respondents see BNPL as a credible threat to credit card revenue.

The megabank's first investor day in four years offered a comprehensive look at how it plans to grow profits and drive higher returns in the coming years. Part of the strategy involves branch updates.

Interpretive guidance from regulators does not deliver the kind of certainty that companies want as they consider expanding into the world of digital assets. Congressional action on the CLARITY Act is the answer.

What do you get when you put two boring, safe industries together with one super-exciting, possibly dangerous industry? We're apparently going to find out.

Freddie Mac was more aggressive than its counterpart for much of the past year but March activity establishes that there's a different trend at play in 2026.

Life insurers' borrowings from the Federal Home Loan banks has increased in recent years, raising concerns about opaque, private credit investments and how it intersects with the Federal Home Loan banks' housing mission.

After Dan Allison spent more than 20 years as a wealth management consultant specializing in referrals, the AI agent version of him will coach financial advisors through WealthReach's new Multiply tool.

As gas prices surge, small businesses — particularly in agriculture and transportation — have struggled to keep up. For banks, this has brought a combination of short-term benefits and long-term concerns.

The neobank reported a 25% year-over-year increase in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, with active users jumping 19% to 10.2 million. The company also raised its full-year 2026 guidance and authorized a $200 million share repurchase program.

The newly opened bank founded by big tech executives reached the deposit milestone within its first quarter of operations, according to a recent call report.

A rule change requiring trial modifications before other loss-mitigation options is creating workflow and liquidity challenges, especially for smaller servicers without deep resources.

Banks are mixed in their adoption of buy now/pay later and installment lending, according to American Banker research. Those that offer or are planning to offer it say that the primary motivating factor is to stay competitive.

Citi payments exec Driss Temsamani said there's more work needed to bridge gaps to enable artificial intelligence to work broadly for payments and finance.

On Thursday, Citi will hold its first investor day in four years. The megabank, which has undergone substantial change under CEO Jane Fraser, is expected to share its strategy for driving higher profitability, deploying AI and ramping up shareholder returns.

In addition to 10 new AI agents for financial services, the company announced partnerships with software and data providers FIS, Microsoft, Verisk, Third Bridge, Fiscal AI, D&B, Experian, GLG, Guidepoint and IBISWorld.

Fincen just proposed the most significant reform to AML compliance in a generation, but its reporting forms are still broken. A handful of key changes would meaningfully reduce compliance burden without reducing investigative value.

Market mavens love to wax poetic about the so-called resilient consumer, but the reality is consumer spending is largely underwritten with credit, so it makes sense to keep an eye on credit trends.

Public comments on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's GENIUS Act implementing regulations highlighted the rift between banks and crypto firms over the permissibility of yield on stablecoin holdings, an issue that has stalled crypto market structure legislation for months.

A GAO report suggests that blanket rules on spousal consent for 401(k) withdrawals could solve "financial infidelity problems — and exacerbate them.

The proposal is part of what SEC Chairman Paul Atkins calls his "Make IPOs Great Again" agenda.

Opportunity favors the prepared, and Cambridge Savings Bank had been saving for years to buy a nearby rival. Now, as the mutual bank announces plans to acquire First Seacoast Bank, it says it's found "the right deal at the right time."

Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr said Tuesday that the U.S. energy sector is more insulated from shocks than Europe's, particularly in natural gas prices. However, he warned that the war is pushing up gasoline prices, which could spill over into other parts of the economy.

If a card is immediately not easy and safe to use in an external app, consumers will quickly turn to another card, executives from Regions Bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Barclays warned American Banker's Payments Forum.

The payments company said payment volume increased, but net income decreased compared to 2025.

Carter Bankshares wants to widen its footprint in the Carolinas and may look to buy a bank, especially in South Carolina, where it set up a loan production office in November. The Virginia bank recently resolved a long-running dispute with a major commercial borrower.

CEO Brian Armstrong said the company will flatten its org chart to five management layers and concentrate hiring around "AI-native" pods.

Ather Williams III, Wells Fargo's head of global payments and liquidity and wholesale digital, discussed the changing payments landscape and how banks can stay ahead during the keynote address at American Banker's Payments Forum 2026.

Dimon spoke Tuesday at an Anthropic event alongside Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. 

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., said that they "agree to disagree" with bank lobbyists on their objections to their newly released stablecoin-yield provision.

Wells' latest advisor recruiting coup comes just days after it pulled over a 19-person team formerly managing nearly $6 billion at Morgan Stanley.

Mainstream financial services firms moving into the crypto realm are rightly skittish about consolidating trading, custody, lending, staking and settlement in a single provider. The crypto industry is, instead, entering a world of "co-opetition."

The debate over how to define yield in terms of stablecoin rewards feels like the debate over how to define usury in medieval Europe.

The GSEs' financials are strong but odds are against a short-term change to conservatorship that would give stockholders access to their profits, Mizuho said.

Brian Moynihan will continue to wear two hats, thanks to the support of almost 70% of Bank of America's shareholders.

The Justice Department retreated from its plan to appeal a judge's ruling blocking grand jury subpoenas in the Powell probe, opting instead for a softer legal maneuver that keeps the investigation's future uncertain.

The company is officially releasing a digital asset product that it first announced back in October.

The Canadian bank is using machine learning to analyze customers' payments and provide recommendations to salespeople.

CEO Robin Vince defended the custody bank's use of artificial intelligence Monday, saying that the deployment of AI allows firms to increase their investment capacity.

Plaintiffs say Team 313 stole Social Security numbers and IDs. Chime says no data left its systems. None of the suits has its own evidence.

Two U.S. banks have failed so far in 2026, continuing the recent pattern of smaller lenders collapsing abruptly due to firm-specific issues. January's failure of Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust and the early May failure of Community Bank & Trust – West Georgia both fit that mold.

The Taylor Group of Wells Fargo Advisors is led by nine advisors, all of them relatively young and many of them siblings.

American Banker research finds that while more than 30% agree buy now/pay later is good for banks and consumers, the majority of respondents are unconvinced.

Banks are scrambling to find their place in a rapidly growing market for stablecoins. Before making major commitments, though, they need to be sure of the market segment they're trying to compete in and who their opponents are.

Community Bank & Trust in Georgia, the second bank failure this year, shows what happens when bankers don't keep things simple.

The Iran war's disruptions have sent oil prices jumping, but drillers are far more disciplined than they were a decade ago.

The litigants, with some of the industry's deepest pockets, may be filing the rare cases to flag and potentially punish bad brokers, one expert said.

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., have released compromise language on stablecoin yield for a long-awaited crypto market structure bill, clearing the way for a markup in the near future.

The FDIC moved quickly on Friday to sell $288 million in assets Community Bank and Trust – West Georgia to Anchor Bank, but the sale announcement leaves the fate of $27 million in uninsured deposits to be determined. 

Market watchers think Jerome Powell will maintain a low-key presence on the Fed board as he awaits the release of an inspector general report examining cost overruns at the central bank's headquarters.

Banner Bank is poised to merge with Bank of the Pacific in an all-stock deal valued at $177 million. The two Washington-based commercial banks both have branches in Washington and Oregon.

BayFirst Financial in St. Petersburg named veteran Tampa-area banker Al Rogers as its CEO and announced an $80 million capital raise. The bank sold its SBA-lending business last year, but it's still struggling to work through problems in its legacy loan portfolio.

San Diego County Credit Union won a court ruling that should help in its effort to get out of its deal to merge with a local competitor. A lawyer for SDCCU said he believes the judge's decision "signals the end of any merger between the two institutions."

The case exposes a systemic risk for banks: incident-response and ransomware-negotiation firms receive sensitive breach details that a corrupted insider can sell back to the attackers.

Miami's Ocean Bank appointed Yuni Navarro to its board of directors; Indiana-based Interra Credit Union announced it will acquire The Hicksville Bank in Ohio; JPMorganChase hired Chris Mihok from Keefe Bruyette and Woods; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Even as they continue to press for additional changes, banks get some wins from the revised Basel capital framework and a ballpark estimate of their capital outlook for the next few years.

The B2B payments fintech contends the digital asset can wring inefficiencies out of corporate payments processing.

Hokodo, a British business-to-business buy now/pay later fintech, has shut down after eight years. Its closure offers important lessons about the future of the concept.

As judges have shown in other recent cases involving UBS and Stifel, firms have a high bar to clear if they want an arbitration award vacated.

Refinances drove growth of last year's lending activity, with both the volume share and average loan size coming in noticeably higher, according to IEmergent.

Private credit in 2026 may be like subprime mortgages in 2008, but for banks, at least, the reality may be different this time around.

Jerome Powell has indicated that he will buck tradition by remaining on the Federal Reserve Board after his term as chair expires. Given the circumstances, he's making the responsible call.

The recent uptick in commercial-and-industrial lending is the result of disruption in the private credit sector, one economist argues. Bank analysts say the upheaval in private credit is one factor among many.

The president's son has seemingly cut ties with the digital asset fintech ALT5 Sigma, whose shares lost 90% of their value after purchasing the tokens.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a new version of a small-business lending rule that took 17 years to get over the finish line. Banks are still lobbying for the rule to be repealed.

New York extracted $5 million and a broker registration from Uphold over its promotion of CredEarn, a yield product whose issuer collapsed in 2020.

Home affordability declined on a monthly basis across loan types and racial demographics, but improved from a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

A federal judge harshly criticized the settlement of a civil suit between the Department of Justice and a Texas land developer.

The San Antonio-based bank reported annual declines in net charge-offs and nonaccrual loans, extending a run of solid credit-quality trends at Texas-based regional banks.

President and CEO Enrique Lores, who took the payment company's top job in March, is looking to turn the company around with fresh talent and a renewed focus on what he says are the company's fundamentals.

The card network, which reported earnings on Thursday, reports some early impacts on travel payments, and has set up a site to help customers with questions about changes in consumer and business spending habits.

Banks have publicly said they're on top of the risk presented by Anthropic's Claude Mythos, which can find and exploit software vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed. Experts aren't as sure.

Growth in retained and investment portfolios drove gains as the government-sponsored enterprise reported the highest refinancing share seen in four years.

The Japan-linked risk for banks is not the exchange rate itself but the funding, collateral and rollover pressure behind it. Sudden volatility in the foreign exchange market will rapidly cascade into U.S. Treasury markets.

Higher utilization and aggregate excess payments point to pressure, according to TransUnion. Debt-to-income averages remain below traditional mortgage caps.

Jerome Powell isn't Fed chair anymore, but he's staying on the board, which might be uncomfortable for his successor.

Rocket, United Wholesale Mortgage and Pennymac said they will use the new government-sponsored enterprise credit metric as large lenders get on board.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday that he would remain on the Fed board after his term as chair expires next month, resolving the last and most significant open question about his departure and the onset of Kevin Warsh's leadership at the central bank.

The Beaver State measure gives de novo banks up to $1 million per year in tax credits. Oregon lawmakers modeled their legislation on a 5-year-old Ohio law.

Schwab services 16,000 RIAs with 2,000 different fee structures. According to the industry's largest custodian, the exact costs come down to "a very personalized negotiation" with the firms.

The Spanish banking giant is seeing improvement in its U.S. business, which is set to expand significantly if its pending acquisition of Webster Financial gets approved.

Expenses and foreign exchange pressured Western Union; while Visa added more blockchains to its stablecoin settlement pilot. That and more in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

Tipalti has developed a set of agentic artificial intelligence agents designed to help businesses navigate transactions and apply for refunds.