The credit card lender's blockbuster acquisition of Discover is not guaranteed to get across the finish line. But co-founder and CEO Richard Fairbank appears to see the rewards that would come from controlling a payments network as outweighing the potential downside.

The blockbuster merger proposal will be reviewed at a time when the Biden administration is expressing skepticism about consolidation. Its analysis will have to account for markets dominated by both big banks and the likes of Visa and Mastercard.

Capital One Financial's proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services would create a credit card behemoth with its own payments network. The deal is likely to draw tough regulatory scrutiny, though analysts say there are many compelling strategic reasons for the combination.

The median interest rate that large credit card issuers charged consumers with good credit in the first half of 2023 was 28.2%, compared with 18.15% at smaller banks and credit unions, according to a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is on a campaign against excessive fees.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, have added Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., as cosponsors to a bill aimed at increasing credit card competition and lowering consumer fees.

Banks need to reckon with the explosive rise of legal online wagering and the addicts left in its wake.

The stable outlook is an indication that — at least for some lenders — the much-feared cycle of cardholders defaulting on their obligations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic may not turn out to be so bad.

The credit card issuer said it's "cautiously optimistic" about its borrowers' financial health, with charge-offs expected to rise not much further than pre-pandemic levels. The upbeat outlook contrasts with a key competitor's guidance of significantly higher losses.

The retail giants are testing the limits of what customers will allow a generative AI system to do before making a payment.

Executives at America's largest banks are making rosier predictions about the financial health of U.S. households than they were a year ago, when their forecasts proved to be overly pessimistic.