Banking

After soured loans rose above the private student lender's expectations in 2022, its stock price fell 16% on Thursday. One analyst wrote that "persistent credit issues have damaged management's credibility."

Executives cited uncertainty created by surging interest rates, heightened regulatory scrutiny and the potential for a recession.

Greenville, in particular, is attracting financial institutions enticed by its growing population and healthy business climate.

An article in the Los Angeles Times provides an opportunity for bank executives to address the underlying problems. Instead comes a focus on damage control.

Proposals submitted to several of the largest U.S. banks seek stronger commitments on reducing financing for the fossil-fuel industry and 2030 greenhouse gas emission targets.

Toronto-Dominion Bank struck a deal to provide financial content for the immigrant-geared CanadaVisa website, part of its bid to win a greater share of the new Canadians who are an increasingly important source of growth for the country's big lenders.

The subprime lender OppFi sued California's consumer protection agency last year, arguing its loans are not subject to the state's interest rate cap of 36%. State officials are asking a judge for an injunction on new loans until the broader fight is resolved.

The Dallas-based company is rolling out a national investment banking unit as it seeks to serve clients through the entire business life cycle. It has also promoted three top-level executives into new roles.

Jason Hall is taking over for Jay Young, who announced his retirement in 2021.

The minority depository institution largely caters to Mexicans in the U.S. Their trust in smartphones and distrust of traditional banking has influenced its approach to developing digital tools.

Deutsche Bank is preparing further job cuts to keep costs in check, with the focus likely to be areas outside the trading unit.

The Austin-based credit union chose its chief strategy officer, Michael Ver Schuur, to be its next president and CEO.

Grupo Mexico is close to lining up financing to back a more than $7 billion bid for Citigroup's Mexican retail bank Banamex, according to people familiar with the talks.

The bank establishes a committee with the express purpose of addressing employee misconduct. But as the problem of unauthorized customer accounts grows, it stops meeting.

LevelField CEO Gene Grant says its strategy for merging with Burling Bank is super-conservative, despite an intention to serve the digital-asset community. "We've taken everything out of the business plan" that might give regulators pause, he says.

Yolo Federal Credit Union has served only Yolo County, which has 221,000 residents, since 1954. It's now able to reach Sacramento County, which has 1.6 million people.

Bank of Montreal, which just completed its $16.3 billion takeover of Bank of the West, expects to be able to gain share even in U.S. markets where the firm only has a sparse branch presence.

The bank, which is beleaguered by digital-asset portfolio forced loan charge-offs that led to a loss in the third quarter and for the full year, climbed to a net income of $2.7 million for the fourth quarter.

A plan released Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was more aggressive than anticipated, leading to share price declines at Synchrony Financial, Capital One and Bread Financial. "This skews toward the worst-case scenario," one analyst wrote.

In a reversal from five years ago, six of the eight biggest U.S. banks by branch count now offer the loans, which observers see as safer alternatives to payday loans.