Tariffs

Competition for deposits is tight, the outlook for loan demand is uncertain, and regulatory relief is slow-moving. Yet community bankers are feeling better about the economy than they have in two years, a Promontory Interfinancial Network survey found.

China's decision to stop buying U.S. soybeans and let its currency depreciate raised the prospect of further interest rate cuts. That hurt banks slightly more than the rest of the market on what was a bad day for all equities.

The president said that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi would do a better job overseeing monetary policy in the U.S. than Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

CEO Greg Carmichael said Wednesday that online-only banks "aren't relationship-based" and that Fifth Third would stick to its plan of attracting new depositors by selectively expanding into new markets.

Lenders are turning to the Farm Service Agency to backstop more loans as their Midwestern customers are beset by flooding in addition to the U.S. trade war with China and volatile crop prices. Can the FSA meet the increased demand?

Despite tension between the U.S. and trading partners, bank are doing booming business in financing cross-border commerce; some Republican lawmakers are getting antsy at the pace of rollbacks for bank regulations, and are pushing regulators for a sense of urgency.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to consider changes that would allow consumers to block calls from numbers not on their contacts list while the House should vote to extend the National Flood Insurance Program.

One credit union economist says tit-for-tat on tariffs could slow economic growth but will not result in an economic downturn.

Two economists speaking during CU Direct's recent Drive conference in Las Vegas offered predictions on how a variety of economic factors could impact credit union auto lending portfolios in the not-too-distant future.

Can farmers — and the banks that lend to them — survive Trump's trade war?