Fed’s Barkin optimistic about market uncertainty in 2026
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said economic uncertainty should ease in the coming year as businesses gain confidence in sustained demand and adapt to the new policy environment.
The CFPB’s small-dollar lending rule has clearly backfired on consumers
The effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, meant to benefit borrowers, has instead led to higher delinquency rates, increased defaults and more loans being sent to collections.
Overdraft fee income is on the rise at these big banks
Several large U.S. banks reported an uptick in overdraft-related income for the first three quarters of 2025. Economic pressure on consumers may be to blame, some banks and industry observers say.
Marquis breach toll rises to 80 banks, 824,000 consumers
New disclosures show the ransomware attack on the marketing vendor affected far more community banks and credit unions than initially estimated.
For now, Maduro’s capture changes little for US banks
Even as oil stocks jump and lawmakers clash over Trump’s decision to intervene in Venezuela, experts say U.S. banks face little short-term risk, and any energy payoff is years away.
First Federal purchases Fidelity’s mortgage division
First Federal Bank stretched its retail mortgage operations into Louisiana and Mississippi, following its expansion into the Midwest and Arizona in 2023.
How JPMorganChase plans to jolt ‘on-chain’ finance
The bank’s Kinexys blockchain unit processes a fraction of the institution’s overall payment volume. It’s betting that an appetite for the technology’s promise of speedy processing and liquidity will make that larger.
Will the slow pace of new bank formation pick up in 2026?
Just a handful of de novo banks opened in 2025. But there are signs of renewed activity, with eight banks currently actively in formation and more than 10 charter applications on file with the FDIC.
Fed’s Kashkari flags concern about labor market
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on CNBC that both sides of the central bank’s dual mandate show signs of imbalance, with the labor market appearing more vulnerable.
A fragmented landscape of bespoke stablecoins will serve nobody
The real value of stablecoins lies in their ability to provide instant and secure transfers of value. But, in a world where every company has a bespoke stablecoin, that promise begins to break down quickly.