Banking

Reading Cooperative's combination with Wakefield Cooperative, the third deal involving Boston-area banks announced in the past month, would create a $1.2 billion community bank.

The industry should save on interest expenses this year as it follows the Fed's lead in cutting rates. The downside is that the lower deposit rates signal fewer opportunities to make loans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule that will remove medical  bills from credit reports to end what the bureau called "coercive debt collection practices."

As part of the transaction, Scotiabank will take a 20% ownership stake in Davivienda, Colombia's third-largest bank, which has operations in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Miami.

Florida-based Amerant Bancorp recently restructured its securities portfolio after selling its Houston branches.

An appeals court ruled that online lender CashCall had waived its right to a jury trial and that its other challenges "lack merit," in a lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2013.

Chris Gorman and four other high-ranking KeyCorp executives have been granted a combined $16.7 million in performance-based equity awards that will vest in two years, as long as the Cleveland-based company meets certain capital requirements and earnings goals.

Arrow Financial in Glens Falls kept busy in December, consolidating its two subsidiary banks, expanding its board and restructuring its securities portfolio.

The digital bank unit of SMBC Manubank keeps costs low with remote employees and all tech in the cloud, President John Rosenfeld says.

Lenders across the country promoted from within to fill top executive roles, including First International Bank & Trust in Watford City, North Dakota.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based bank hired Steven Sugarman to be its president. The former bank CEO, who now heads one of the country's largest mission-based lenders, will help drive an effort to close a capital gap.

The unprecedented number of deals came in a year when banks struggled to find merger partners in their markets.

The Honolulu-based utility sold a 90.1% stake in American Savings Bank. The deal valued the lender at $450 million.

The trend of credit unions buying banks is a lightning rod for controversy in the banking industry. Despite this, such mergers are increasingly common.

Banks are taking hits in the stock market as they use 2024 to restructure balance sheets and inflation slightly increased in November.

Jamie Dimon and Brian Moynihan are among the eight chief executives whose blunt, pithy or pugnacious turns of phrase made the year more colorful.

A number of banks mixed up their executive teams in the past year, as they shifted strategy, handled regulatory problems or planned for retirement.

Community banking highlights in 2024 included strong deposit growth at a Los Angeles-based digital-only bank, continued regulatory scrutiny of banking-as-a-service arrangements, along with a transformational deal in the Old Dominion.

A record 22 credit unions announced plans to acquire banks in 2024, though the year ended on a discordant note as regulatory concerns appear to have derailed a planned CU-bank deal in Georgia.

JPMorgan Chase opened a net 38 sites in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, bucking the branch-closing trend.