Banking

MVB Financial in Fairmont, W.Va., has sold most of its insurance business to USI Insurance Services in Valhalla, N.Y.

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.

Initial coin offerings are the latest fad for many emerging cryptocurrency companies and projects. From the recently completed Lisk, Waves and Mycelium coin offerings to the historic crowd sale by the DAO – which was subsequently hacked for about $60 million – to Bitland, Project Decorum, Elastic Project and a good number more sales, the trend is clear.

The decision by a federal appeals court to toss out a blockbuster settlement between retailers and the card networks could re-expose some banks to legal liability and threaten their already challenged interchange income.

The bitcoin blockchain poses a negligible competitive threat to legacy institutions, but the technology could open up new markets for financial services, says a new report by Citigroup equities analysts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday that it paid $24.5 million in restitution to consumers after uncovering illegal activities in auto finance and payment firms in the first four months of this year.

Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Mich., is paying $371 million to put behind it the vestiges of its dealings with the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

First Bank in Hamilton, N.J., has raised $13.7 million by selling common stock.

NPL investors will have to consider principal reductions and offer more sustainable loan modifications.

Heather Cox says Citi cherry-picks the best of fintech apps for its own services; FemTech leaders ponder what Brexit means for fintech; and SEC chair Mary Jo White takes on board diversity. Plus, Synovus' Liz Dukes Wolverton and Synchrony's Carol Juel.

The $126 billion-asset holding company for Regions Bank said Jeremy King, who had been support manager for private wealth, is now executive vice president of wealth management strategy and effectiveness for Regions Wealth Management.

After years of bulking up on shared national credits, a number of regional banks are cutting back because of the heartburn from problem oil and gas loans. A few lenders are refusing to budge, but many will have no choice if they want to dilute the energy risk on their books.

Some business that's been ceded to fintech startups such as marketplace lenders and financial app providers can be won back, bankers say.

The Canadian company took its time before making a bank acquisition in the U.S. The wait allowed management to address internal performance, assess the market and find the right bank to buy.

Banks, credit card companies and other financial firms are strategizing ways to stave off higher legal bills they expect from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to limit the use of arbitration clauses, which is likely to open the floodgates to class action lawsuits.

A $5.7 billion settlement by Visa and MasterCard was rejected by an appeals court in New York, potentially renewing years of litigation with U.S. merchants over allegations that credit-card swipe fees were improperly fixed.

The business case for real-time payments is not the opportunity to charge high fees. Rather, the payoff – which will take time – will come in retaining customers, lowering operational costs, and delivering timely financial insights to smartphone-toting customers.

WASHINGTON — Whether bitcoin is actual currency is at the forefront of a first-of-its-kind money-laundering case in Florida to be decided Friday.

IBM has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the Washington, D.C.-based organization working to help shape the regulatory framework for the blockchain industry.

Debt collection complaints fell in May, and the average of complaints from March through May also dropped, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest monthly complaint report.