Banking

The Louisiana Credit Union League is nearing the launch of a social network that will allow its constituents to stay in touch even when they can't meet in person, whether due to the pandemic or natural disasters.

The Boston company is forecasting larger earnings growth in the first year after closing its $3.5 billion deal than it projected in September. On the flip side, the acquisition will take longer to close than initially expected.

The deal is the latest example of a mainstream bank buying a point-of-sale lender focused on financing home improvement projects.

J. Kevin Ryan is succeeded by Cameron Minges, who became the credit union's president a year ago.

The government has become more skeptical of mergers, but the Minneapolis company expressed confidence it can maintain its original timeline for the $8 billion acquisition. Separately, it announced substantial changes to its overdraft program that will, among other things, eliminate fees for nonsufficient funds.

The Irvine, California, bank has been beset by compliance woes since early 2021, when state regulators issued an order requiring it to bolster its capital and reduce the concentration of its commercial real estate footprint.

The largest bank based in oil-rich Texas is building a framework for gauging the threat that climate change poses to its business and plans to disclose more information on the subject this summer. Meanwhile, its energy loan portfolio shrank 24% year over year.

Customers are ramping up borrowing just as interest rates are poised to rise. That combination “sets us up nicely for 2022,” says CEO Brian Moynihan.

Google has hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to run its payments division and set a new course for the business after it scrapped a push into banking.

The Rhode Island bank estimated that its revised overdraft practices will cost $40 million each year, but it noted that complaints to call centers are down 40% since the policy change.

The U.K. neobank has expanded its U.S. customer base to 300,000 mobile users and diversified its product line to include basic banking, crypto trading and investing.

The Mississippi bank’s addition of more than a dozen bankers last year helped drive a $250 million increase in new loans during the fourth quarter. To keep the momentum going, CEO John Hairston said he intends to hire aggressively in 2022.

“Our intention is to work with all our clients, including our fossil-fuel clients, to develop credible plans and transition to net zero together,” Chief Executive Jane Fraser said.

The decision to drop the London interbank offered rate as a benchmark interest rate means that contracts for hundreds of trillions of dollars in financial assets need to be rewritten. U.S. regulators should allow existing agreements to be amended without the threat of massive litigation.

Fourth-quarter net interest income rose 11% from a year earlier to $11.4 billion at Bank of America, though its average loan balances edged up just 1% over the same period.

The economic and political conditions are in place for bank-credit union mergers to blow past last year's total of 13 despite the banking industry's strong opposition to them.

The nation’s sixth-largest bank will offer a $750 line of credit to customers who need short-term liquidity, and will gradually become less reliant on older accounts that charge the controversial fees. With the plans, Truist is moving in the same direction as many large and midsize banks.

VyStar Credit Union in Jacksonville has been certified as a community development financial institution.

Traditional banks could be forced to add cryptocurrency product offerings in 2022 to compete with fintechs that are taking advantage of blockchain innovations, according to Diogo Mónica, co-founder and president of Anchorage.

Joseph L. McGee, who has run the credit union for more than 20 years, will step down in March. Glenn Bryan, chief operating officer, has been named his successor.