Economy

Building a safer ecosystem: Why transparency, controls, and partnerships will drive next era of financial services.

Julie Caperton, a longtime executive at the $1.9 trillion-asset bank, succeeds Julia Wellborn, who left the company in April.

Federal Reserve officials held interest rates near zero while signaling they expect two increases by the end of 2023, pulling forward the date of liftoff and projecting a faster-than-anticipated pace of tightening as the economy recovers.

The Biden administration will award $1.25 billion to hundreds of community lenders in an effort to speed the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce on Tuesday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it is reviewing compensation policies for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and requesting feedback from the public. Some have said the $600,000 limit for executives imposed by Congress makes it hard to find talent.

According to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)’s “How America Banks” report, there is an estimated 7.1 million unbanked households in 2019. Given the record levels of unemployment, the pandemic has brought on the FDIC expects this number to rise. Join Joe Adler, American Banker’s Washington Bureau Chief and Leonard Chanin, Deputy to the Chairman of the FDIC as they discuss the FDIC’s stance on financial inclusion and how banks can get millions of unbanked Americans into the traditional banking system.

The four largest U.S. banks face investor pressure to deliver the returns of smaller rivals, but they complain that the federal deposit cap and capital rules make that difficult. So they're pouring money into wealth management, payments and digital banking to seize more market share in existing businesses and fend off nonbank challengers.

The deal for the Salt Lake City-based home improvement lender, which Home Depot tried to acquire more than a decade ago, is part of a larger effort by Regions Financial to diversify its home lending business.

In "Antitrust," former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar offers little nuance in weighing the costs and benefits of concentrated economic power.

Emory Healthcare of Atlanta is using RevSpring's platform, which allows patients to key in card data that is shielded from customer service representatives.

For two decades, Alfred Pollard served as the general counsel for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator. He had a front-row seat for the establishment of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government’s subsequent seizure of the mortgage giants amid mounting losses in 2008 and the more recent legal dispute over the FHFA’s authority.

Banks need to innovate to compete with upstart fintechs, but fragmented and inflexible core systems are slowing digital transformation. Here’s how banks — with help from their regulators — can thrive amid the disruption.

Adding Community Bankers Trust would help United fill a key service gap between its branches in Northern Virginia and the Carolinas. It's United’s 33rd M&A deal under CEO Richard Adams.

The pace of the U.S. recovery picked up somewhat in the past two months, sparking price pressures as businesses contended with worker scarcity and rising costs, the Federal Reserve said.

The funding requests break sharply with the Trump administration's calls to eliminate key housing funds and backing for community development financial institutions. The White House also wants to substantially increase the budgets of the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration.

The U.S. unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank plans to invest in CDFIs and specialized funds that serve Black, Hispanic and other diverse business owners in its East Coast territory.

The Treasury secretary previewed President Biden's budget by urging lawmakers to fund the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's establishment of a beneficial ownership regime.

DeVito takes over on June 1, replacing interim CEO Mark Grier, who returns to his seat on the government-sponsored agency's board.

With rock-bottom rates suppressing interest income, some buyers are looking beyond traditional M&A and striking deals for asset managers, insurance firms and other businesses that generate the bulk of their revenue from fees.

Cypress Trust in Palm Beach is poised to pull off a rarity: the conversion of a wealth management firm into a community bank. It’s simply another way to take advantage of the ongoing melding of the two financial services sectors, CEO Dana Kilborne says.