Banking

With the Federal Reserve holding interest rates at elevated levels through the first half of the year, analysts are sharpening their collective focus on possible fallout from high deposit and borrowing costs.

Old Glory Bank, which has ties to conservative political figures and touts itself as "pro-America," needs to raise more capital to meet its regulator's requirements. "Failure is not an option. We're going to figure this out," the bank's president and CEO said.

The top five community banks have more than $1.2 billion in combined farm loan portfolios as of March 31, 2024.

New top executives were lined up for lenders across the West and Midwest, including Bank of North Dakota.

Executives from Citi and TDECU teased their plans for digital lending at American Banker's Digital Banking conference this week.

Bloom Credit Union and West Michigan Credit Union aim to join forces; Long Island-based New York Community Bancorp plans a reverse stock split; Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial hires longtime California banker to lead its middle-market team; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

The real test of the value of investments in artificial intelligence and other tech upgrades is the generation of measurable value across a bank's lines of business.

Large and regional banks again proved their resiliency in the Fed's annual exams. But analysts noted that a few lenders faced some negative surprises — a development that may scuttle investor hopes for share buybacks by those banks.

VersaBank plans to use the one-branch Stearns Bank Holdingford in Minnesota as a platform to expand a lucrative niche business acquiring loan and lease receivables from point-of-sale lenders.

Leaders that have created virtual "branches" weighed in at American Banker's Digital Banking conference on how to approach implementation and what results have been like.

When TD Bank launched an audio brand identity across its communication channels early this year, the new jingle triggered a surprising reaction from consumers using the firm's ATMs.

Banks and financial institutions face a barrage of lawsuits from consumers alleging they failed to investigate inaccurate information on a credit report. Industry blames the uptick in litigation on social media sites and the proliferation of credit repair companies.

Eras come and go, but the ongoing investments in developing, empowering, leading and retaining superior personnel will remain the highest priority of top-performing financial institutions.

General Motors' financial arm has halted its quest for an industrial loan company charter from the FDIC, but is signaling that it will try again. Observers said the automaker may wait until after the presidential election to decide how to move forward.

Funding Circle US fought to win a coveted license to make SBA 7(a) loans only to see its London-based parent company agree to a sale before it could make its first government-guaranteed loan

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau extended the deadline for lenders with the highest volume of small-business loans to July 18, 2025, and will not assess penalties for reporting errors for a year.

The head of data and digital at Ally Bank came up with protective measures governing the use of generative AI and organized "AI Days" for employees to learn about Ally's progress.

By adopting more inclusive lending practices and actively seeking to support minority-owned businesses, banks can help bridge the financing gap that often stifles the growth of these businesses.

Later this week, the Federal Reserve will release the results of its annual check-up on larger banks' balance sheets. Experts say there are always surprises, but that pending capital rules may have a bigger impact than the stress-test results on banks' dividend and buyback decisions.

There were 27 bank acquisitions worth $5.45 billion announced in the second quarter as of mid-June. That was more than the $5.2 billion combined value of deals announced over the previous five quarters.