Interest rates

Count Citizens Financial’s Bruce Van Saun among those who think interest rate cuts could halt by mid-2020. The key, he says, is to focus on delivering services customers are willing to pay fees for and to skillfully reprice deposits until then.

The Minneapolis company attributed the uptick to new tech tools, additional loan officers and other process improvements — not to mention the refi boom fueled by lower rates. It’s a formula other banks are expected to copy.

They’ve long used their marketing muscle to wrest deposit share from smaller competitors. Now, amid growing concerns that the economy is weakening, they could be benefiting from consumers’ flight to safety.

Net interest income rose just 1%, but the bank rode a surge in advisory and other fees to beat profit estimates.

Its quarterly results show lower rates and emerging credit risks can be overcome. Whether most banks have all the same levers to pull is another matter.

The state's Democratic-controlled Legislature has enacted laws establishing data privacy rights, giving municipalities the ability to set up public banks, and requiring standardized disclosures on small-business loans, among other issues. Lawmakers elsewhere are taking notice.

The GSEs will hold onto a combined $45 billion as they start the process of going private; PayPal becomes the first foreign firm to win approval to enter the country’s payments market.

A research paper says the president’s constant criticisms are driving Fed policy, directly or indirectly; the huge demand by banks for cash may be the result of tougher regulations.

The once-acquisitive company is not interested in a "roll-up strategy" in Texas's biggest city, said CEO Phil Green. In a Q&A, he also explained why loan competition is intensifying and what's really keeping business customers up at night.

Despite concerns over how regulatory requirements affect short-term funding markets, the central bank is not considering a reduction in the liquidity coverage ratio, Jerome Powell said.