Regional banks

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.