Industries

Nondepository lenders are beating their bank competitors when it comes to both digital innovation and market share in the mortgage industry. As interest rates rise, banks will need to move toward electronic closings and adopt other innovations if they want to stay competitive.

Weakness in the energy sector and a surge in new construction are pushing up vacancy rates at offices and hotels, leading to a spike in delinquencies on loans tied to them. The safer bet, bankers say, is lending on industrial properties.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Jan. 12 on the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Loan modification activity has fallen dramatically at national banks over the past year, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

First Midwest Bancorp will move its headquarters to Chicago from Itasca, Ill., next year. The $11.6 billion-asset company will open an 80,000-square-foot office in the spring of 2018.

Kenneth Mahon, the new CEO of Dime Community Bank, wants to reduce the 152-year-old institution's multifamily exposure by diversifying into other asset classes. But finding new business amid already fierce competition could be an immense challenge for Dime — and other community banks — in 2017.

The Rural Housing Service is expanding its manufactured housing loan guarantee program to include more refinancings of used or existing manufactured homes.

The commercial-and-industrial loan space is overheated, higher rates could stifle mortgage refinancings, and subprime auto delinquencies are on the rise. Bankers could be fighting these fires and more in the new year.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Finance Agency is making it easier for Federal Home Loan banks to expand the kinds of collateral they can accept for advances.

The Department of Justice has agreed to a settlement with a pair of Cincinnati banks accused of redlining African-American neighborhoods in four cities in Ohio and Indiana.

Chemical CEO David Ramaker has a wide range of options — diversify business lines, expand organically in several Midwestern states, pursue M&A or all of the above — following his recent acquisition of Talmer. But new challenges accompany Chemical's higher profile, too.

It's unclear how the new political environment will affect the platform's viability or how investors will view the securities issued on it. The next year could determine the project's success and role reshaping the secondary mortgage market.

Congress wants to put federal flood program on sounder financial footing, encourage the development of private flood insurance market and stop the insanity of rebuilding properties subject to repetitive flooding.

The case against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is stronger than the argument for their survival.

Treasury sweep agreement set to deplete Fannie and Freddie's capital reserves by the end of 2017.

Regulators have warned about the dangers of high commercial real estate concentrations despite bankers' assertions that they are managing risk better than they did before the financial crisis. Still, CRE concerns could influence M&A and loan diversification in 2017.

Andrew Jetter is stepping down as the chief executive of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka after serving as the president and the CEO for 14 years.

Ginnie Mae has revised the wording of the acknowledgment agreements necessary to finance mortgage servicing rights. It sought to resolve a concern warehouse lenders had in the event issuers become troubled.

Opes Advisors shows would-be borrowers how purchasing a house fits into their total financial picture, now and years into the future. Many of its loan officers are licensed investment advisors.

The National Association of Realtors is warning House Republicans leaders that their tax reform plan would marginalize two long-standing tax incentives for owning a home, which could hurt the housing market.