Risk

Klarna Bank, which advertises itself as a way to spread the cost of the latest brands and smartphones, is shelling out loans for milk and gas with cash-strapped customers looking for ways to cover basic necessities.

An alert released Tuesday asks banks to give special attention to specific “commodities of concern” as they monitor transactions.

The two megabanks said that their capital requirements will rise in the wake of Federal Reserve stress tests, putting downward pressure on their distributions to shareholders. Meanwhile, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and others announced plans to raise their dividends.

A new and larger finance industry is emerging — one in which traditional institutions aren’t nearly as dominant as they used to be.

In its semiannual risk report, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it was working to provide clarity on the legality and soundness related to digital assets.

Missed payments are rising among nonprime credits as higher prices on other goods leave consumers with less money to pay back their car and truck loans. The uptick may be a sign that the stellar credit environment for lenders is starting to turn.

Bank of Montreal hired Piyush Agrawal from Citigroup as chief risk officer to succeed Patrick Cronin, who’s stepping down later this year.

Citigroup may record losses of at least $50 million following a London staffer’s fat-finger trade that caused a flash crash in European stocks last month, according to people familiar with the matter.

The firms respectively settled the regulator’s allegations about suspicious activity reports and the duty of best execution — two major areas of emphasis.

People shouldn’t completely shun the crypto world after the recent collapse of a popular stablecoin, an official at the International Monetary Fund said Monday. 

David Reilly oversaw cybersecurity efforts at the bank for years and has learned how employees with access to sensitive information can be flipped, conned or extorted into cooperating with hackers.

Tom Anderson currently serves in a compliance role overseeing personal banking and wealth management at Citi. He will succeed Mary McNiff, who is moving into a new position at the $2.4 trillion-asset bank.

Citigroup warned that more regulators are investigating the company over employee use of “unapproved messaging channels."

Nearly three in four banks said in a recent survey that finding people with the right skills is a hurdle as they try to comply with decade-old rules regarding their financial models.

In its semiannual supervision and regulation report, the central bank cited strong balance sheets and liquidity but found risks for smaller banks.

A cannabis-related company said it has secured a $60 million credit facility backed partly by East West Bank. The California-based regional bank is moving into a realm once dominated by small banks, credit unions and more expensive nonbank lenders.

The San Francisco bank is following the lead of other U.S. megabanks by providing shorter-term targets ahead of 2050 climate pledges.

Citigroup has been released from a 2012 enforcement action that faulted its anti-money-laundering efforts. But company executives are expected to spend a lot of time over the next few years seeking to resolve a pair of more recent consent orders.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's decision to lift the order is a win for Citi, which has been working to address two other, more recent consent orders with the OCC and the Federal Reserve.

Goldman Sachs Group offered its first ever lending facility backed by bitcoin, in a significant step for a major U.S. bank that accelerates Wall Street's embrace of cryptocurrencies.