Banking

The more vocal millennial generation is pushing companies like Bank of America to redefine diversity in the workplace to include more freedom of expression.

Bank3 started as a $12 million-asset institution with a single branch, no online banking and a core system that was obsolete. Now it's much more.

Northwest Bancorp in Spokane said it has agreed to acquire the $131.1 million-asset CenterPointe Community Bank in Hood River, Ore.

Ann Marie Mehlum, who has joined a lending platform called SmartBiz Loans after stints as a community banker and an SBA official, says the combination of fintech and old-fashioned banking could bring back small-business loans under $100,000.

Technology is moving at light speed beyond smartphones. To compete in this environment, banks need to zero in on solving for basic human needs.

Whether helping students or making donations to life-saving research, credit unions won't stop giving back to their communities.

Technology never stands still, and even the most successful mobile wallets in the market need to keep pace with the needs of consumers and merchants. A few are making changes that position them for new markets and platforms in the near future.

Archaic regulatory frameworks are curbing progress in fintech. We must modernize our rules so they address an internet- or mobile-based economy.

Former Goldman wunderkind Eric Mindich closes $7 billion Eton Park hedge fund as returns suffer, assets shrink; San Francisco Fed chief says bank culture is regulatory concern.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Welcome to the PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Samsung extends contactless reach; m-commerce hurts malls; Russian hacker faces jail; U.K. ATMs take part in Red Nose Day.

Rent is one of the few payment types where automation has made very little headway, still relying heavily on mailed checks that the landlord deposits in person at a bank. One strategy to change that is to borrow a concept from the gig economy, in which the payment rides along with other services.

BMO recently won a diversity award for reaching its goal of having women in 40% of senior management jobs, and CEO Bill Downe argues equal treatment of employees will carry over to fair treatment of customers and create long-term profits for shareholders.

Andy Harmening will succeed longtime retail banking chief Mary Navarro, who is retiring in June.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Experian sold consumers an "educational" credit score and falsely claimed in advertisements that the score was used by lenders to make credit decisions.

The regulator said that Santander has not made sufficient progress in complying with a 2015 enforcement order.

A faster network is letting the regional bank bring new technology into its branches and share data with fintech partners via APIs.

Citigroup plans to close three of its four London branches as the company seeks to cut costs and focus on digital services.

It took several offers for First Busey to seal a deal to buy First Community Financial Partners, and the details in a recent public filing of the back and forth between the two Illinois banks show how patience in merger negotiations is a must.

At a time when customers are rapidly switching to digital banking, scores of branches are closing. But many institutions — mindful that brick-and-mortar locations remain a critical sales channel — are also experimenting with physical layouts that are focused on technology and generally smaller than traditional branches. In some cases, they have even done away with employees. Here is a look at some of the designs that banks have built as they seek to fuse the physical with the digital.