Banking

Meritrust Credit Union in Wichita is giving $400 to each of its 370 employees to start or grow a rainy day fund.

The Cincinnati, Ohio, bank also promoted three other top executives to new roles. All of the changes will be effective in early 2024.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's annual student banking report reveals that college-endorsed financial products, including credit cards and student ID-linked deposit accounts, often impose high fees and unfavorable terms, reinforcing the CFPB's ongoing scrutiny of potential violations of federal consumer financial protection laws.

Frequent overdrafters — households that pay more than 10 overdraft fees a year — use the service as a form of credit, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report.

Allegations of lending discrimination against Navy Federal Credit Union, while as yet unproven, suggest that the rationale for giving credit unions substantial advantages over banks needs to be rethought.

Led by veteran banker Stephen Gordon, Genesis Bank in Newport Beach, California, plans to use the funds pledged by private equity firms and other investors to roll up community banks in the Western U.S.

The lawsuit accuses Navy Federal of violating the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act after a CNN report that the lender approved a lower percentage of Black and Latino mortgage applicants.

Remote work trends and high interest rates have substantially reduced the values of U.S. office buildings. A new academic paper estimates the extent of the deterioration, suggesting that there is perhaps more stress ahead for banks than is widely anticipated.

The $225 billion-asset Citizens Financial Group has partnered with the fintech Pinwheel to streamline the process for new account holders to switch the direct deposit of their paychecks from their old banks.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other Senate Democrats urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to rescind regulations or guidance that contradict the way Dodd-Frank says the OCC should deal with state consumer protection rules.

The head of U.S. business banking at BMO discussed what small businesses need with American Banker Editor-in-Chief Chana Schoenberger in the Leaders Forum.

The Fed's Basel endgame draft rule would restrict access to capital and credit on Main Street.

A new Cerulli report suggests that one of banks' best opportunities to grow in the coming years is right under their nose, with a client segment they often ignore.

Across the industry, the pace of branch shutdowns slowed this year. Still, large financial institutions continued to trim their physical footprints, with two super-regional banks taking the most aggressive actions.

The Connecticut bank agreed to pay $350 million to acquire Ametros Financial, a custodian and administrator of medical funds from insurance claim settlements. Some analysts see the deal as a signal that Webster does not plan to sell its health savings account business, which has been the subject of recent speculation.

Banks are perfectly willing to comply with a reasonable data collection standard. The problem is that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule makes demands far in excess of what the law requires.

The changes include elevating several recently hired executives while eliminating nearly two dozen jobs and trimming annual operating expenses by $6 million.

Commercial-property sales have come under pressure over the past year as borrowing rates soared and values plummeted. Sellers and borrowers have often struggled to agree on pricing, given uncertainty around where values sit today.

While medical debt is not a problem created by the financial services industry, the industry has a critical role to play in addressing it.

The Ohio Democrat is pressuring the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo to proactively provide financial benefits to active-duty service members. Those protections are enshrined in a 2003 law, but many service members do not seek them out.