Regional banks

Gary Cohn, former head of the Trump administration’s National Economic Council and onetime top executive at Goldman Sachs, says technological changes will continue to make it harder for smaller financial institutions to compete and force many to be sold.

Strong mortgage and capital markets activity helped offset credit costs and one-time items in the third quarter at Citizens Financial Group. In a period of low rates, CEO Bruce Van Saun says he’d like to buy more fee-generating businesses.

The family-owned bank from the South and the New York commercial lender each would fill a clear need for the other. First Citizens would gain business lending expertise and an online deposit-gathering platform, and CIT would get the cheap deposits it coveted.

The Minneapolis company says the majority of branches earmarked for closing have already been shuttered for months due to the pandemic. Some of the savings will be plowed back into digital expansion.

Even more so than activist investors, customers and a new generation of employees are driving banks to back environmental, social and governance reforms, executives said during a Women in Banking roundtable hosted by American Banker.

Many consumers are taking to the highways and the water for safe getaways during the pandemic — powering one of the few bright spots in lending. However, bankers warn that boomlets usually come with distinctive credit risks.

The American Association of Bank Directors is setting up an on-the-job training program to help banks reach a younger and more diverse group of prospective employees.

As part of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance program, we have selected five “Top Teams” for 2020. Zions Bancorp. is one of the team honorees.

As part of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance program, we have selected five “Top Teams” for 2020. Bank of the West is one of the team honorees.

Lenders should be subjected to tough reviews of their readiness for economic threats posed by severe weather, required to disclose risks lurking in their portfolios and perhaps forced to set aside extra capital, a government study recently recommended.