Banking

At a House hearing last week, GOP lawmakers asked Russell Vought, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for advice on how to craft legislation to permanently change the CFPB's authority. The hearing highlighted a consensus among Republicans that administrative policy rollbacks are not enough.

The capital markets business, loan growth, credit quality and an improved macroeconomic outlook were all factors in the industry's strong second-quarter results.

The new Main Street Capital Access Act includes a provision that lowers the regional Federal Reserve banks' discretionary surplus, as well as a number of technical changes that committee aides hope will pry loose a few more Democratic votes.

The new law's reciprocal and custodial deposit provisions recognize what the evidence has shown for two decades. They should spur, not substitute for, the broader work of protecting America's depositors.

Small Business Bank in Kansas failed on Friday, the second failure in a week and the fourth failure overall in 2026.

The regional bank faced months of pressure to end its relationship with CoreCivic and The Geo Group, two of the country's largest private prison operators. On Friday, it said it would "exit the credit facilities" it has in place for those companies, attributing the decision to business factors, not pressure from activists.

Three former senior enforcement officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have launched Halperin Petersen & Mikkilineni LLP, a new public interest law firm; Ally Financial taps Mark Mathewson as chief information and data officer; Provident Bank names Anthony Petrazzuoli SVP, deposits & payments operations director; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Carolyn Weinberg, chief product and innovation officer at BNY, sees blockchain adoption as a way for banks for modernize practically.

Regulatory clarity is the most important element for the digital future, according to Coinbase's Brett Tejpaul.

The adoption of blockchain technology will come in waves, BBVA's Andrés Fondevila Maron says.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank stopped originating marine and recreational vehicle loans during the second quarter. Executives said the change will reduce net interest income in the short term, but deliver higher profitability over the long run.

The recently announced consortium of crypto companies behind OpenUSD, a new dollar-denominated stablecoin, will have to demonstrate that it can build partnerships with banks and intermediaries before it can challenge USDC and Tether.

The customer-sourced investment will continue to support the digital banking provider's AI and digital loan origination initiatives.

A coalition of 20 state attorneys general, most of them Democrats, is opposing efforts by the high-cost lenders Enova International and Opportunity Finance to acquire banks. The state AGs warn that the companies are trying to dodge state interest-rate caps.

The regional bank revealed plans Thursday to close most of its supermarket-based branches and replace about half of them with new, nearby standalone branches. The multiyear transition could attract $20 billion to $30 billion in low-cost deposits, executives said.

State Street executives said Thursday that one of its investment funds was selected as the default investment option for "Trump accounts."

Bank7 CEO Tom Travis told analysts the court-ordered auction for a 71% stake in Century Bank should open in August.

One of Sweden's biggest banks agreed to the penalty to resolve a multiyear investigation into its compliance failures. The New York State Department of Financial Services said Swedbank intentionally withheld information it was required to turn over.

A breakout month by the company's newly acquired investment banking subsidiary, BTIG, added nearly $100 million of revenue during the second quarter.