Banking

Executives have ramped up initiatives for educating members, staffers and directors on how to gain support from legislators.

Robert Hill Jr., who had been CEO of the company before it merged with CenterState Bank in 2020, will resign in April. The company says it's replacing his position with a nonexecutive chairman "as part of a broader, ongoing effort to enhance the independence of the company's board."

Banks, flush with money to lend, will keep upward pressure on inflation in 2023 and perhaps several more years as they lend out their bloated reserve balances.

SeaComm Federal Credit Union of Massena, New York, and St. Lawrence Federal Credit Union of Ogdensburg, New York, are planning to merge by the end of the year.

The New York megabank unveiled the most complete accounting to date of its carbon footprint, and pledged to further reduce emissions from various high-emitting industries. Climate activists offered a mix of praise and concern.

The new management layer would be senior to the bank's managing directors, executives told employees at an off-site.

The activist investor is crying foul, claiming the Dallas-based bank harassed one of his board candidates into withdrawing and rejected the nomination of another. The bank says the candidates failed to make full disclosures.

The National Credit Union Administration would give tentative OKs to organizers of startups so they can secure enough capital for a final approval, Vice Chairman Kyle Hauptman says. Some industry observers describe the plan as a step in the right direction, while others complain more has to be done to foster new credit unions.

Nonbanks that refer to "deposits" and "APY" interest payments are drawing scrutiny from regulators, and some observers say Congress needs to clarify what nonbanks can say about their interest-bearing offerings.

The Illinois company is smaller than other banks that have done away with the charges, but it's been substantially less reliant on overdraft revenue than some depositories. Wintrust executives explained the decision as a response to technological changes in consumer banking.

The results came a day after it emerged that Canada's second-largest bank doesn't anticipate regulators will approve its deal for Memphis, Tenn.-based First Horizon Corp. by May 27, as it previously projected.

Credit unions have individually made progress in making their ranks more diverse and inclusive, but their efforts are starting to bump up against the political discourse over "woke" corporate cultures.

In three years as a subsidiary of $3.2 billion-asset MVB Financial, Chartwell Compliance has tripled its headcount and revenues, MVB CEO Larry Mazza said Wednesday, after announcing Chartwell's sale to New York-based Ankura.

The specter of an economic downturn looms, but many companies are still in growth mode, according to Donald McCree, head of commercial banking at the Rhode Island bank. "We continue to hear from a lot of companies that they are doing quite well," he said.

The small businesses said in a lawsuit that the bank used "misleading marketing and business practices" to rake in processing fees from oversized Paycheck Protection Program loans. A bank spokesperson placed responsibility on PPP borrowers for the representations they made in loan applications.

The Treasury will join with a group of Federal Reserve and other agencies to develop standards that they hope will shape both foreign CBDCs and a U.S. government digital dollar, should Congress authorize one.

Credit card issuers say they need more time to respond to the substantial data request made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its proposal to slash late fees.

The merger of Columbia and Umpqua has created a $52 billion-asset bank rooted in the Pacific Northwest. CEO Clint Stein said the company has room to expand in California, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

Archway, which will help community and regional banks integrate third-party providers with their existing systems, has raised $15 million of venture funding in connection with the spinoff.

The Canadian bank now expects loan growth in the mid-single-digit range this year, down from a high-single-digit forecast three months ago. "We're not slowing, but the economy is," one executive said.