Progressive groups once again are forcing shareholder votes in connection with hot-button issues such as racial equity and climate change. But now conservative groups are also harnessing the same process in an effort to influence the positions that banks take on politically charged issues.

Higher interest rates are generally helpful to the industry, but they are also leading to unrealized losses in banks’ bond portfolios. Trust banks such as Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and Northern Trust may take relatively large hits when they announce their first-quarter results.

Increased interest income would boost banks’ lending profitability, but inflation and mounting expenses, along with the specter of potential recession, loom large.

In response to the war in Ukraine, the custody bank is no longer pursuing new business in Russia. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have all announced similar moves.

Pay for the leaders of Canada’s five largest banks rose an average of 28% as the lenders’ earnings increased and shares gained.

The Canadian banking giant cited labor shortages, rising inflation and the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as reasons for keeping loan-loss allowances above pre-pandemic levels.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, which earlier this week announced a $13.4 billion acquisition to expand in the U.S., got a lift from loan growth at home.

Citigroup said profitability will fall as the bank pursues a strategy shift that it said will raise expenses in the near term.

Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal got an earnings boost with commercial clients ramping up their borrowing as economies emerged further from the pandemic.

Block, the digital payments firm run by Jack Dorsey, reported strong quarterly sales that were in line with expectations but failed to impress investors.

Royal Bank of Canada is still benefiting from the pandemic-era boom in capital markets.

A busy end to the year for Barclays’ dealmakers helped offset a slump in trading activity and lift the British bank to its highest annual profit on record.

The Silicon Valley fintech expects to make $1.5 billion in auto loans this year after implementing key elements needed to achieve scale, said CEO David Girouard. The expansion comes as the automotive market continues to boom.

Underwriting has become more lenient amid increased competition for corporate borrowers, and as Paycheck Protection Program loans are disappearing from banks' balance sheets.

Wages, marketing spending and technology investments are all on the rise. While higher interest rates should eventually help tame inflation, it's not clear how quickly banks will be able to limit their spending increases.

Executives said record-high commercial loan commitments in the fourth quarter validate the San Antonio bank’s decision to open more than two dozen branches in Houston and pursue a similar path in Dallas.

The credit card issuer fielded questions about its fees two days after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a wide-ranging review of consumer charges. Executives said they would not take a big revenue hit even in the face of new limits.

Multifamily and specialty finance loans, which were highlights during the fourth quarter, should increase further in 2022, company executives said.

The North Carolina company will also eliminate nonsufficient-funds fees as it aims to keep pace with larger rivals, including Bank of America, that have revised their overdraft policies.

The expenses jumped 33% last quarter, which was generally in line with trends elsewhere in the credit card industry. The battle for new customers is “intense,” CEO Richard Fairbank told analysts.