Banking

At a hearing on deposit insurance reform, Republican lawmakers concluded that only the largest banks would oppose a proposal to raise insurance for business accounts to $20 million.

Opposition is building against a bipartisan bill that would raise deposit insurance for business accounts, with increased deposit insurance premiums a chief concern.

The Treasury Department has designated Fifth Third as the financial agent for its Direct Express prepaid card program. The decision marks a reversal from late last year, when BNY reached a five-year agreement with Treasury.

CEO Curtis Farmer tried to assure skeptics Tuesday that the Dallas-based bank is focused on shareholder value and profitability, even as an activist investor group prepares to launch a board fight.

Congress can and should enact meaningful deposit insurance reform, but the current proposal before lawmakers is misguided. The deposit cap is excessive and the funding mechanism creates systemic risk.

The Columbus, Ohio-based regional bank announced plans to acquire Dallas-based Veritex Financial in July. On Monday, a Huntington executive called the deal a "springboard" for additional organic growth.

The megabank will continue its international retail strategy by opening business in Germany next year, starting by offering savings accounts to consumers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a packed agenda centered on rewriting rules ranging from small business lending to open banking while rescinding several rules finalized under the Biden Administration last year.

Equity Bancshares is expanding into Nebraska with the proposed acquisition of Omaha-based Frontier Holdings; Valley National Bancorp taps Patrick Smith as its new president of consumer banking; Northern Trust in Chicago promoted Michael Hunstad to president of asset management; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

There is conclusive evidence that stablecoin adoption does not lead to deposit runoff at community banks. This should give bankers the confidence to grow their businesses by offering stablecoin-related services.

Founder and executive chairman Edward Nigro will step back into the top executive spot after Ryan Sullivan informed the company he didn't plan to renew his employment contract.

Fintechs are rolling out business financing tools that are packaged as buy now/pay later and earned wage access in the hopes of capturing momentum from the budding consumer finance industries.

Organizers of the planned Portrait Bank say they're well ahead of initial capital-raising goals as they near completion on leasing a property to serve as headquarters

Noelle Acheson points out that central bank digital currencies are neither the threat nor the solution many seem to think. What matters is how the technology is applied.

The giant custody bank plans to offer specialized instruction in cybersecurity, AI and other topics to 1,000 community bank executives.

The superregional bank, which pulled the plug on bitcoin custody services in 2022, is reintroducing those services following the demise of an unfavorable SEC rule.

The arguments banking trade groups are raising against granting charters to digital asset firms are the same scare tactics they used against money market funds, online brokers and fintech lenders.

The bank will deploy Nova Credit's Cash Atlas software to determine borrowers' creditworthiness by looking at bank account data, and the vendor's Credit Passport to bank newcomers to the country.

The Indiana credit union, which was rebranded from Teachers Credit Union in 2023, says it chose Creatio for the low-code/no-code vendor's ease of use.