Banking

UBS Group AG decided to end an agreement with the Swiss government to cover losses it could incur from the rescue of Credit Suisse, a sign that the mammoth integration is on track and the stricken lender's assets might be less troublesome than initially feared.

In his new book, "The Song of Significance," Seth Godin, a business management author, dives into how executives can rethink being profit driven and help create meaning in the work for employees.

"Smart" contracts enable the Chicago-based trust bank to carry out deals without intermediaries, while archiving details on transactions that can be useful later. Experts say other banks could follow despite the complexities of cutting-edge technology and the risk of being hacked.

The company is rolling out a special-purpose credit program to help address what it describes as "the biggest barriers to achieving homeownership." Such programs are gaining popularity among banks.

Critics slam their proposed reach as unfair competition.

After eight years leading one of the nation's most prominent Black banks, Michael Pugh will become chief executive of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Citizens Bank of Edmond in Oklahoma, in conjunction with the digital-banking platform Narmi, recently launched an account-opening process that occurs completely online. The project, completed in less than three months, could be a model for community banks that want to innovate but fear being a low priority for vendors.

Artificial intelligence can and should be integrated into the business of banking, but with adequate safeguards in place to mitigate the technology's potential vulnerabilities.

During the recent banking crisis, both businesses and wealth management clients moved their money out of banks. Commercial deposits have since recovered, but those in wealth accounts continue to decline amid fierce competition from both inside and outside the banking system.

The Wilmington, Delaware, bank announced this week that it had purchased Bell Rock Capital. WSFS' management says that legal troubles involving that investment advisory firm's founder won't affect the transaction.

The $1.6 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that its directors "voted to terminate" Kevin Lycklama's employment. Dan Cox, chief credit officer, was named as acting president and CEO.

The deal with private equity firm KKR follows an earlier announced sale of $1.3 billion in medical office loans. The Columbus, Georgia-based company has said it's "proactively optimizing the balance sheet" to position itself for long-term growth.

The nearly $81 million plan to buy Community Financial Group in Spokane, Washington, would mark the 13th acquisition in the past decade for Glacier. The Montana-based bank has more than tripled in size during that time.

The real threat is from undercapitalized banks, and regulators must require large banks to have enough capital to eliminate that threat.

The Alabama bank is rolling out an online platform for corporate clients to manage billing-related communications with their own customers.

Moody's said higher funding costs, a potential decline in bank capital and growing risk in the commercial real-estate industry prompted many of the downgrades.

Seven of the 11 largest credit unions in the country by assets experienced a year-over-year drop in earnings in the second quarter, with increased deposit costs being a primary culprit.

Bankers say regulatory burden, rising costs and intensifying competition will reignite a drive for scale and spur dealmaking provided interest rates level off and the economic outlook improves.

U.S. consumers set a new record during the second quarter, as card debt reached $1.03 trillion. Bankers say a healthy job market has allowed consumers to keep making their monthly payments, but they're also on guard about the impact of the upcoming resumption of federal student loan payments.

Many small-business lenders have less than 18 months to figure out how to gather and report on an extensive array of data.