A major wave of consolidation is about to reshape the banking industry
New bank capital rules have changed the calculus for many banks in the U.S., eliminating many of the barriers that prevented midsize institutions from growing. The result will likely be a rapid spike in mergers.
Citing bad loans, USDA bars a group of lenders from lending program
The move comes about a year after rising delinquency levels prompted SBA to raise lender fees and tightened underwriting standards in its flagship 7(a) program.
OpenAI launches Plaid integration for ChatGPT Pro users
Select ChatGPT users can now connect their bank accounts to the AI-powered chatbot for personal money management advice based on their financial history.
Always-on fraud checks cut Suncoast’s losses by a third
Suncoast Credit Union moved from one-time identity checks to monitoring members for the life of the account. It says fraud losses fell more than a third.
Wells Fargo settles lawsuit alleging hiring, lending discrimination
The $110 million settlement, which was mapped out last fall, requires Wells Fargo to establish a $100 million fund to provide downpayment and closing-cost assistance to eligible borrowers who live in or plan to buy a home in certain low- and moderate-income census tracts.
First Trump, Now Mamdani; politicians stepping into payments
Whether red or blue, leaders share an affinity for battling fintech giants, as the liberal mayor is pressuring regulators to scuttle Western Union’s plan to buy digital transfer Intermex, shortly following PayPal’s ‘DEI settlement’ with the Trump administration.
Why JPMorgan Payments has been ‘pretty quiet’ on agentic commerce
Prashant Sharma, JPMorgan Payments’ executive director of biometrics and identity solutions, spoke with American Banker about agentic commerce and how liability is shifting as a result of large language models.
Trump to swear In Warsh as Fed chair on Friday, White House says
A White House official said that the president will swear in Kevin Warsh, who was confirmed as the next chair of the Federal Reserve last week, in a ceremony Friday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will serve as chair pro tempore until that time.
OCC finalizes rule preempting state escrow interest
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule saying that federal law trumps state mandates on interest in escrow accounts for national banks, wading into an ongoing court battle.
Kraken wants to be a (legally speaking) bank. Why?
Crypto firms are becoming the kinds of trusted third parties bitcoin was created to get around, raising the question of what digital currencies are even for.