Interest rates

Santander Consumer is planning to attract online deposits via a national platform that could rival Goldman Sachs’s Marcus; HSBC is now in retrenchment mode after aiming for growth.

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.

CEOs have been telling investors that if the Fed continues to cut interest rates, they will lower rates they are paying on deposits to minimize the hit to net interest margins. The danger is that if they lower rates too quickly or by too much, big depositors could go elsewhere.

Lenders considering other factors for those with bad or no credit history; the bank plans to sell its French retail unit.

Dimon doesn’t expect it to happen, but the bank is getting ready just in case; the state will require banks to disclose their relationship with gun sellers.

M&T has skillfully used hedges, maintained an appropriate loan mix and resisted offering market-leading deposit rates, its chief financial officer said at a financial services conference.

For the third time in five months, the San Francisco bank made a downward revision Monday to its guidance on net interest income. An executive cited the impact of lower interest rates.

A new kind of institution wants to make the interest rate the Federal Reserve pays to its member institutions more widely available, but that could have big implications for monetary policy.

With long-term interest rates at historic lows, mortgage refinancing is coming on strong. But that additional revenue may not be enough to offset net interest margin pressures and lost servicing income.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called for the panel to hold a hearing on what he termed the danger that the Federal Reserve will meddle in the 2020 presidential election.

The agency is trying to update its rate-cap policy for institutions that fall below "well-capitalized." But it remains to be seen if the proposed changes fully address community bankers' concerns.