Judge pauses shutdown firings as Vought vows more to come

A federal judge in San Francisco ordered a temporary halt to reduction in force orders issued by the Office of Management and Budget during the government shutdown, while OMB Director Russell Vought has said he expects to lay off more than 10,000 federal workers.

Mastercard, Visa embrace agentic AI

Mastercard has added an “agentic cloud” to speed deployment, while Visa has issued a protocol to help AI agents communicate. That and more in American Banker’s global payments and fintech roundup.

Citizens downplays interest in participating in M&A boom

Amid a surge in bank mergers, Citizens CEO Bruce Van Saun said the Providence, Rhode Island-based bank is largely focused on organic growth. “It would have to be a pretty high bar for us to go down that path,” he said.

OCC conditionally approves Erebor’s de novo charter

The conditional approval came with residency waivers for board directors and green-lights the bank’s business model, which is aimed at serving tech companies and ultra-high net worth customers in the digital asset space.

Waller: Policymakers ‘must let the disruption occur’ in AI

Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said Wednesday that breakthroughs in artificial intelligence will undoubtedly make life easier and lead to growth, but acknowledged that the technology’s adoption will lead to short-term labor market disruptions.

FDIC will allow private equity to bid for failed banks

Acting Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Travis Hill said the agency will open the bidding process for failed banks to private equity and other nonbanks, streamline resolution plans and revamp its bidding and funding models, reforms spurred by 2023’s bank failures.