Banking

Small banks have limited resources to address cybersecurity, but more are turning to advisers and auditors to develop strategies that can keep them safe and compliant.

Sometime last month, scandal-plagued Wells Fargo decided to stop referring to its branches as "stores." It may have been a knee-jerk reaction to intense public scrutiny, but it may also be long overdue given retail banking's evolution.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau decried an appeals court ruling last week that found its single-director structure unconstitutional, saying the opinion was "wrongly decided" and had "no basis in the text of the Constitution or in Supreme Court case law."

Rather than addressing a pressing need like an economic crisis, a fintech charter would place the federal government in the business of choosing winners and losers in a market, with the potential to distort the banking system.

The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web. In today's briefing:
PayPal's network deals; Facebook's eBay collab; Tommorow's Siri

Federal banking regulators issued a broad proposal Wednesday designed to counteract cybersecurity threats that could hit at the financial industry's critical junctures.

A strong and dynamic risk detection system requires focusing on the most important blind spots not satisfactorily explained by existing tools, rather than focusing on the "answers" produced by those tools.

BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., rode recent acquisitions to a record profit in the third quarter.

Banc of California, the lender that's paying $100 million to sponsor a soccer stadium, rose in early trading Wednesday after moving up its quarterly earnings release following a report by an anonymous short seller that caused the shares to plunge a day earlier.

Its loan-loss provision increased largely due to energy-related loans, but Hancock Holding in Gulfport, Miss., still reported higher third-quarter profits. Lower expenses and an increase in lending for healthcare, equipment finance and mortgages were the main reasons.

First Tennessee Bank in Memphis has recruited a quartet of executives for its expanding specialty banking lines that serve the franchising, healthcare, music, and transportation industries.

Profits at Fulton Financial in Lancaster, Pa., surged 21% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier thanks largely to robust fee income growth and tight expense control.

Remember how commercial and industrial lending was a hot item in the first half of the year? Not anymore. Blame election-year blues and a regulatory crackdown on CRE, regional bank executives said. The good news is that the hand-wringing over energy lending has largely subsided and banks are taking advantage of new opportunities in specialty lending.

Two San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday introduced a resolution that would "end all business with Wells Fargo," in response to the fake account scandal and other practices that have harmed consumers.

CenterState Banks in Davenport, Fla., has agreed to buy Platinum Bank Holding Company in Brandon, Fla., in a $83.9 million cash-and-stock deal.

Early pioneers of this form of artificial intelligence in the banking industry see clear benefits but unexpected pain points that have to be addressed.

The investment bank will take "a very deliberate and methodical approach" to building its online lending platform, Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz told investors Tuesday, implicitly drawing a contrast to once-highflying startups like Lending Club and Propser.

Recent moves by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including a plan to regulate payday lending, take away what limited credit options consumers have.

Biometric security company Hypr Corp. has closed a $3 million funding round to accelerate the development and adoption of its encryption product.

The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web. In today's briefing: Charles Scharf's tenure; Apple Pay's goals; giving up gift cards.