Investments

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is weighing whether to set a hard deadline for financial firms to halt new fossil-fuel investments, if they want their net-zero emissions targets verified by the United Nations-backed group.

UBS agreed to buy the U.S. robo advisor Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in cash, the first major acquisition of a fintech company under Chief Executive Ralph Hamers.

The Texas attorney general’s office is seeking more information on Citigroup’s gun policies as the bank stages a comeback in the state’s municipal-bond market after a GOP law upended its public-finance business there last year.

Europe is imposing new requirements on how banks report environmental risks and carbon targets, to give investors a better picture of the threats that climate change poses to the industry.

In this fireside chat, Ida Liu, the global head of Citi Private Bank, covers a range of topics, including how digital client engagement is evolving.

The branches will provide services in clients’ preferred languages and employ local residents. Executives say the strategy will help M&T pull in new customers at a time when nonwhite populations are expanding.

Billions of government and corporate dollars are pouring into minority banks and community development lenders, complicating the efforts of some investment funds that had similar goals. Still, banks owned and run by African Americans say the equity infusions are small in the context of the nation’s wide racial wealth gap.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Chief Executive Bharat Masrani said additional share repurchases would be a possible use of the lender’s excess capital if it doesn’t deploy those funds in a major acquisition.

Central bankers need to speak up about economic barriers prompted by racism and the need for inclusion and diversity, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said, a response to critics who see the work as a distraction from the Fed’s main goals. 

The largest U.S. banks have made progress in detailing the risks posed by climate change, but it's clear the industry will have to do more. As federal regulators prepare to impose new obligations, banks are pushing back against calls for more aggressive measures such as capital requirements and increased risk weighting for fossil-fuel lending.

On Sep. 30, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

JPMorgan Chase hired Ben Ratner from the Environmental Defense Fund to help advise banking clients on lowering their carbon footprint to combat climate change.

Analysts expect loan growth and higher interest rates to drive up equity prices next year, even in the face of the omicron variant and other risks.

Consumers are pushing card networks and issuers to develop programs that reward them for spending on sustainable products and other initiatives to mitigate climate change.

The North Carolina company has estimated the degree of exposure to flooding and hurricanes that exists in its mortgage and commercial loan books and has tallied its losses from severe storm damage in recent years. It’s one of a few regional banks to publish assessments based on the criteria of a global task force.

Join industry experts to explore how financial institutions can better prepare for future compliance issues associated with the evolving landscape.

Conservative groups have sued the Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of California to overturn rules requiring banks and other companies to add more women and minorities as directors. Experts say the legal challenges are unlikely to change how corporations think about boardroom diversity.

More than 180 community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions will receive the federal funds under a pandemic-era program. “It’s a lifesaver,” a credit union CEO said.

HSBC Holdings is planning to phase out the financing of coal used for generating electricity by 2040, the latest bank to commit to ending support for the greenhouse gas-intensive fossil fuel.

The proceeds will support Silvergate’s network that facilitates cryptocurrency transactions and a leveraged lending product that provides loans collateralized by bitcoin.