Expense management

PNC CEO Bill Demchak said Wednesday that regulatory processes and enforcement actions take up half of the time that the company's board spends together. Those rules are on deck for a makeover.

The San Antonio-based company plans to remain in state borders, but sees opportunity for growth in major markets.

Flagstar Bank wants to merge its holding company into the bank, which would cut $15 million in annual expenses and eliminate regulatory oversight by the Federal Reserve, leaving the OCC as its primary regulator. The bank's CEO, Joseph Otting, is a former comptroller of the currency.

The super-regional bank plans to invest in talent, technology and certain locations in 2025, while keeping its expenses in check, to achieve the promise of the merger that created it, CEO Bill Rogers said.

When the superregional bank sold its insurance business for $10.1 billion, it laid out three ways to use the proceeds: buybacks, a balance sheet repositioning and loan growth. The latter plan is so far proving to be elusive.

The Alabama-based bank also said that its outlook for net interest income is brightening. Several other regional banks have offered similarly upbeat guidance in recent days.

The Minneapolis-based company reported an 18% increase in quarterly net income thanks largely to slimmed-down operating expenses. It also notched modest increases in loans and deposits, while asset quality issues remained manageable.

Two days after the megabank was hit with $136 million of fines, Citi executives said they aren't changing the company's full-year expense guidance. Citi has 30 days to submit a plan to regulators showing that the bank has allocated enough resources to achieve compliance in a timely and sustainable manner.

The beleaguered Los Angeles-based bank reported its strongest quarterly results in more than a year, but executives at its Canadian parent company cautioned that improvements may not be linear.

What lies ahead for the banking industry this year? Here's what analysts and investors are tracking after the latest bank earnings reports.

The combination of two Pacific Northwest banks was supposed to create a regional powerhouse, but rising deposit costs have stung. CEO Clint Stein says he's "laser-focused" on making Columbia a top performer again.

The global bank is making good on its promise to trim expenses, but its ability to increase revenues at the same time remains unclear, partly because of the relatively weak performance of its wealth management business.

Each spring during the rush of annual meetings, a handful of financial institutions take heat from shareholders who demand new strategies, management shakeups and, at times, even a sale of the company.

Larger banks are responsible for a special assessment to cover the costs of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The price tag has ballooned by $4.1 billion, and trade groups are criticizing the FDIC's process, arguing that it lacks transparency.

The Los Angeles-based bank said that it's eliminating roles across its footprint. The job cuts follow a year in which expenses soared and losses piled up.

The Birmingham, Alabama bank cut down its workforce across divisions as higher interest rates put pressure on its business.

The Tennessee-based bank was forced to keep operating on its own after a proposed acquisition was called off. Months later, First Horizon has picked up new customers and improved its profitability, but investors remain cautious amid plans for catch-up spending on technology.

Despite a surge in quarterly expenses in the fourth quarter and a projected uptick in the first quarter, the North Carolina company is standing by its expense guidance for 2024.

After the Rhode Island-based company eliminated 650 positions, severance-related costs contributed to a 71% decline in quarterly net income.

The custody bank is managing expectations about its 2024 performance while assuring investors that profits will improve significantly in the medium term. AI is one path it's pursuing.