Economic news

A group of community banks and two major trade associations have formed a partnership with and invested in the fintech NYDIG to offer the service on the banks’ mobile apps by midyear. The banks say it will help them generate revenue and retain customers interested in cryptocurrency.

Business inventories, a key indicator of potential loan demand, are expected to swing upward this year as supply chain bottlenecks finally crack open, according to a panel of economists.

New York Community Bank and Synovus Bank are among the founding members of the group, which will use the US Dollar Forward stablecoin on the Provenance blockchain.

A U.S. central bank digital currency is coming, and what form it takes could spell opportunity — or trouble — for the banking industry.

Large banks explored the concept more than five years ago before quietly moving on. The advent of stablecoins and general acceptance of blockchains have helped make it more practical for some regionals.

With prices increasing faster than they have since the 1990s, the Federal Reserve appears poised to tighten monetary policy. Top industry executives are worried about the chances of either a recession or runaway inflation, depending on whether the central bank moves too quickly or too slowly.

Research shows the number of fraudulent transactions and dollar amounts involved are soaring as merchants increasingly go digital. Credit card and other companies are expected to more than double what they invest in AI and other tech to fortify their systems.

A well-intentioned report from federal banking regulators was flawed in recommending that only insured depository institutions be permitted to issue stablecoins. Here's why.

Accrue Savings is introducing a savings account that is tied to specific retailers, allowing customers to gradually accumulate the amount they need to buy an item and earn cash rewards for making progress toward their goals.

A partisan split at a congressional hearing offered a preview of coming regulatory debates over the nascent sector. One key question is whether the consumer bureau will impose ability-to-repay requirements on installment lenders.

“The deceleration in economic activity was largely attributable to a pullback in dining out, travel, and tourism in most Districts, reflecting safety concerns due to the rise of the Delta variant,” the central bank said in its Beige Book survey.

Earlier this summer, bankers sounded upbeat about Americans’ purchasing patterns, particularly in connection with loan growth in the credit card business. But more recent data suggests that the delta variant is taking a toll on consumer confidence.

David Marcus, Facebook's financial services chief, discusses how its Novi digital wallet and the Diem stablecoin project it's involved in can be the backbone of a platform that offers real-time digital transactions, acts as a merchant acquirer and helps commercial banks handle central bank digital currencies.

Institutional independence is a big part of what makes the Federal Reserve work. But quantitative easing, new forays into climate and digital currency and a blurring of the line between monetary and fiscal policy might make that independence harder to maintain.

JPMorgan Chase executed a novel trade-finance transaction tied to the CME Group’s forward rates for the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, marking an advancement in the use of the Libor replacement.

The Federal Reserve has been circumspect about whether it will issue its own digital currency. Observers are looking to an upcoming report by the central bank for clarity about its intentions and how a digital dollar would work with private stablecoins.

The payments firm Boku is uniting hundreds of fragmented mobile apps to compete with Visa and Mastercard for unbanked consumers in different regions of the world.

The IRS and Justice Department waged a successful campaign to crack down on UBS and other Swiss banks for facilitating tax evasion. Coinbase, Kraken and other crypto exchanges should take note.

The move means companies can give consumers options other than ACH transactions or debit cards to receive disbursements for insurance claims, health care or gig work.

Walmart is looking to hire a cryptocurrency expert to develop a blockchain strategy, joining a growing number of major corporations exploring the viability of digital currencies such as bitcoin.