Regional banks

UMB Financial’s success in aviation financing has boosted fee income, and the Missouri company has opened an office in Dublin — a hub for airplane sales and leases that could get busier as the airline industry restructures.

Big banks led the push to offer multibillion-dollar bonds that fund affordable housing, education and nonprofits that serve needy communities. But Truist's recent $1.25 billion bond is a sign that regionals want to attract progressive institutional investors — and burnish their images.

The Cleveland company is more than doubling an earlier commitment in order to support racial equity and environmental sustainability.

Harmening, set to take the helm of Associated Banc-Corp next month, is being asked to replicate the digital transformation he led at Huntington Bancshares. His career path is a signal to the industry’s rising stars that the road to the corner office includes hands-on technology work.

The Alabama company is instead on the hunt for nonbank acquisition candidates as well as employees or clients it could lure away from regional banks that have announced merger deals recently, John Turner says.

Harris Simmons of Zions Bancorp. warned that excess deposits could suppress loan demand and pose an inflation threat, while Darren King of M&T tried to reassure investors that deposits will be less volatile than some fear once the economy improves.

Harris Simmons, the chairman and CEO of Zions Bancorp., updated investors Wednesday on his cancer diagnosis, saying a CAT scan last week did not detect the rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with which he was diagnosed in November.

Some big banks trimmed their stockpiles that guard against loan losses in the fourth quarter, but overall allowances fell less than many observers predicted. The trend will likely continue given uncertainties surrounding vaccine distribution and the economy.

Acquisitions of wealth management, insurance, fintech and other firms are expected to pick up as banks seek new sources of fee income and look to improve digital capabilities.

The Columbus, Ohio, company plans to close nearly 200 branches in the state — including more than 90 in Meijer grocery stores — after it acquires TCF Financial. It also intends to significantly boost its technology spending to improve its digital capabilities.

Deposits are soaring while loan demand lags and mortgage-backed securities offer weak returns. So the Alabama company has parked loads of cash at the Fed in hopes the economy will pick up steam before profit margins suffer.

The Cleveland company will launch the service in March to broaden relationships its Laurel Road student loan refinancing unit has built with health care professionals.

U.S. Bancorp says its agreement to buy a portfolio with $320 billion of assets under management will raise its profile on the West Coast. The MUFG unit plans to reinvest proceeds from the sale in other priorities.

The switch to Thomas Cangemi from longtime CEO Joseph Ficalora could foreshadow a push to curtail the company’s reliance on multifamily lending and the pursuit of a bank acquisition that lowers funding costs.

Longtime chairman and CEO Joseph Ficalora will step aside Thursday as head of the regional bank and be succeeded by CFO Thomas Cangemi.

The accelerating pace of branch closures is partly due to industry consolidation, according to the community reinvestment group that authored the new report.

The Columbus, Ohio, company says it has delivered on M&A promises before, and many observers say its deal for rival TCF Financial is an opportunistic move in its bid to build a Midwestern powerhouse. But others questioned whether Huntington's cost-cutting and profit expectations are too optimistic.

The deal would create a $168 billion banking company in the Midwest and be the latest in a string of regional bank combinations.

As COVID-19 infections break records nationwide, some banks are once again closing lobbies. But many others are maintaining the status quo after instituting a host of safety protocols that didn’t exist in the spring.

The latest report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index reported lower scores for both industries, with credit unions recording their lowest ranking since 2011.