Economy

Like much of the United States, Tampa Bay has seen very few new bank charters in recent years. That's a void that the new Echelon Bank, which is slated to open in May, hopes to fill.

What was once a bipartisan and broadly popular housing bill has been weighed down with a pair of provisions that banks can't support. Even with those headwinds, the bill is more likely than not to pass, but not without drawn-out negotiations between the House and Senate.

Banks are a critical link in the chain of elder fraud; blockchain is exciting and infrastructure is boring, but they're actually the same thing; and there are way more home sellers than buyers.

Financial institutions that delay or fail to take this leap risk losing customers and revenue, said speakers at the inaugural On-Chain Executive Summit.

Housing economists at ICE Experience 2026 predict mortgage growth but also say the home finance industry has yet to fully adapt to the disruption of this decade.

For the second week in a row, the 30-year fixed increased by 11 basis points, Freddie Mac found, a result of reaction to oil price hikes from the Iran conflict.

The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, but all eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's commentary about the economic impacts of the Iran war and its longer-term impact on inflation.

WesBanco in Wheeling, West Virginia, has hired a team of lenders in South Florida. It plans eventually to open branches in a bid to grab a share of the region's expanding deposit market.

Darnell returns to Regions, after fintech-focused stints at Visa and a community bank acquired by Huntington, as the bank accelerates its branch opening plans.

The company has agreed to a 20-year lease for the entire office portion and some retail space at the 51-story property, where it's already the anchor tenant.

A White House executive order issued Friday afternoon directing regulators to ease Dodd-Frank compliance burdens comes as a bipartisan housing bill advances on Capitol Hill.

The Senate passed a bipartisan housing bill in an 89 to 10 vote, but how quickly and easily the bill can pass the House remains unclear.

The conflict pushed oil price futures above $100 a barrel for a short time earlier this week, which affected bond investors and the 10-year Treasury yield.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman outlined upcoming changes to the bank regulatory capital framework in a speech Thursday, focusing on streamlining bank capital requirements through Basel III and global systemically important bank surcharge rules.

The conflict with Iran has thrown volatility into bank stock prices, which is often the currency of dealmaking. "Stability is important to be able to do deals," one analyst said.

At an industry conference Tuesday, bankers said that an extended war with Iran will result in adverse economic conditions, including inflation.

Visa is using AI agents to streamline payment disputes, while Mastercard launched "digital executives" for small businesses.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would continue to pursue its view on federal preemption of state banking policy in court and in Congress.

Chief economists at large and regional banks predicted ongoing inflation, in part because of the anticipated surge in oil prices as a result of the Iran war. The forecast from the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee did not account for the disappointing U.S. jobs report on Friday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February while unemployment held steady at 4.4%, a development that could spur the Federal Reserve to question whether interest rates are truly in balance.