Disaster recovery

Five years after the government struggled to disburse pandemic relief checks, the Fed is using improved processing for emergency funds as a reason for banks to get onboard with FedNow.

Deadly flash flooding in Texas serves as a reminder of the tactics scammers and fraudsters use against both victims and charitable onlookers.

Disaster relief is capturing a large share of philanthropic giving from banks such as Truist Financial and Western Alliance Bank.

Financial services providers in the region say they're ready to do their part rebuilding Southern California after a series of devastating fires. For many regional and community banks, initial fire-damage surveys identified limited impact.

Bankers are putting pre-established action plans for disaster recovery into motion as wildfires in Los Angeles sweep across the region.

The North Carolina-based bank rolled out a multiyear program to provide loans, investments and philanthropic support to communities in the western part of the state.

Queensborough National Bank & Trust did not expect that its branches would be in the path of Hurricane Helene. Getting its buildings up and running again was a physical and technological ordeal.

Financial institutions are on the front lines of relief efforts in Tennessee and North Carolina, while in Florida, Hurricane Milton threatens to deal a second blow.

Banks in the hurricane's path are focused on finding employees and restarting operations. Those that do business in Western North Carolina are facing an especially grueling recovery.

Leaders of financial institutions and industry trade groups are working together to provide impacted communities across the U.S. with basic necessities and quick, online emergency loans.

The utility, under financial pressure following its involvement in the 2023 fires that ravaged Maui, reportedly is considering a sale of its profitable American Savings Banking unit. An executive declined to "speculate on any strategic transactions or alternatives."

The island state's biggest banks — which reported lower profits in the third quarter — say it is too soon to fully assess the economic fallout from the deadly August wildfires. The rebuilding effort could boost near-term deposit growth and long-term loan demand, they said.

Merrimack Valley Credit Union is launching a disaster relief loan, William Daley will retire from Wells Fargo, New York Community Bancorp promotes Signorille-Browne to COO and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

Financial institutions in several Southeastern states had braced for impact of the Category 3 hurricane. Bank and credit union executives in Florida and Georgia say their facilities generally weathered the storm but that some communities they serve face substantial recovery efforts.

Market professionals and day traders are rattled and waiting for the exchange to elaborate on what it publicly called a "manual error" involving its "disaster recovery configuration."

Roughly 40,000 residents of Moore County have been left without power since Saturday, when gunfire damaged two substations. Financial institutions are urging residents to use online banking and call centers if they do not have access to a branch.

Regions and PNC are two banks that have expanded the use of their mobile branches in recent years.

Financial institutions of all sizes — from JPMorgan Chase to SouthState to Fairwinds Credit Union — have reopened many branches, rolled out mobile banking units as well as reemployed pandemic-era digital and loan-forgiveness strategies in parts of Florida and South Carolina devastated by the powerful hurricane.

With the island still feeling the effects of Hurricane Maria five years earlier, organizations like the Inclusiv Network and the National Credit Union Foundation are providing support to institutions and residents starting to rebuild.

Five days after the storm, Puerto Rico's largest bank is operating more than 90% of its branches, even though almost 60% of households are without power. Diesel-powered generators are a key reason why.