
Columbia Financial, a $11 billion asset bank based in New Jersey, announced a $597 million acquisition of New York‑based Northfield Bancorp, giving Columbia its first presence in New York City. The deal, announced Monday, is expected to close in Q3 and includes a second‑step capital raise of up to $1.9 billion.

The FDIC placed Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust into receivership and entered a purchase‑and‑assumption agreement with Detroit‑based First Independence Bank, which will acquire $251 million of assets and $212.1 million in deposits. The transaction, announced on Jan. 31 2026, is expected to cost the...

Prosperity Bancshares announced a $2 billion cash‑and‑stock acquisition of rival Stellar Bancorp, creating the second‑largest Texas‑headquartered bank with $54 billion in assets and the top deposit share in Beaumont. The combined entity will retain the Prosperity name and the deal is expected...

Stablecoin-card infrastructure provider Rain announced the closing of a $250 million funding round, valuing the company at nearly $2 billion. The round was completed earlier this month, underscoring growing investor interest in crypto-linked payment solutions.

California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation fined Nexo Capital $500,000 for offering 5,456 crypto‑backed loans to state residents without a required financing license. The loans, issued between July 2018 and November 2022, lacked any credit‑worthiness assessment and were marketed...

On‑chain vaults are smart‑contract wallets that automatically allocate stablecoins to the highest‑yielding DeFi strategies. They provide non‑custodial, 24/7 redeemable exposure with yields ranging from 3.7% to over 7%, outpacing many traditional money‑market funds. The piece argues banks could adopt these...

Goldman Sachs reported fourth‑quarter 2025 earnings that topped Wall Street forecasts, posting $14.01 earnings per share and $4.62 billion net income, well above analyst expectations. Revenue slipped to $13.45 billion, missing estimates, largely because the Platform Solutions unit logged a $1.68 billion loss...

Point72 Ventures announced the transfer of its fintech holdings to a $280 million continuation fund managed by Portage, the fintech arm of Sagard. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the fund investment, and Portage will oversee roughly 40 fintech assets, with former Point72...

Monzo experienced a two‑hour outage on Jan 14, 2026 that degraded its mobile app, card payments, and transfers for thousands of customers. The disruption began at 10:31 a.m. ET and ended at 12:36 p.m. ET, after the bank fixed a core issue but did not disclose...

Fifth Third Bancorp and Comerica plan to finalize their $10.9 billion merger on February 1, after receiving Federal Reserve approval and other regulator sign‑offs. The combined entity will hold roughly $290 billion in assets, ranking it as the 16th‑largest insured depository institution in the...

The Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), backed by President Trump, would cap credit‑card APRs and force merchant‑selected routing, slashing interchange fees that fund rewards and specialized products. Military‑serving banks and credit unions warn the bill will tighten credit, eliminate low‑interest...

Wells Fargo posted a $5.4 billion fourth‑quarter profit, 5.5% higher than a year earlier, and lifted full‑year 2025 net income to $21.3 billion, up 7%. The bank lifted its 2026 net interest income target to $50 billion, a 5% increase, after shedding a...

Old Glory, a lender focused on crypto‑backed financing, announced it will go public through a merger with the special purpose acquisition company XYZ Capital. The transaction values Old Glory at roughly $300 million and is expected to raise about $200 million in...

U.S. Bank’s innovation team, led by chief innovation officer Don Relyea and head of R&D Todder Moning, scouted the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show for technologies that could be integrated into the bank’s services. The bank recently launched AI and blockchain...

President Donald Trump publicly urged Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act, a bipartisan bill championed by Sens. Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall that would curb swipe‑fee monopolies. The legislation would require large banks to give merchants a choice...

Bank of New York Mellon posted a record fourth‑quarter revenue of $5.18 billion, up 7% year over year, and net income of $1.47 billion, a 27% increase. Earnings per share came in at $2.02, beating analysts’ $1.90 consensus by 12 cents. The...

JPMorgan reported fourth‑quarter net income of $13 billion, but earnings per share fell to $4.63, missing forecasts after a one‑time $2.2 billion credit‑loss provision tied to its expanding credit‑card business. The bank will replace Goldman Sachs as the platform for Apple’s $20 billion...

Coastal Financial, a $4.6 billion community bank, announced the acquisition of GreenFi, its longest‑standing fintech partner, to avert a cash crunch and buy time for a strategic review. GreenFi, a climate‑focused challenger bank spun out of the bankrupt Aspiration, raised $17 million...

San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) and California Coast Credit Union (Cal Coast) have entered a legal dispute that threatens their planned merger, which would create a $13 billion asset institution serving over 600,000 members. SDCCU issued a termination notice and...

Prosperity Bancshares completed its $322 million acquisition of American Bank Holding Corp., adding 18 branches across Central and South Texas. The bank also secured Federal Reserve approval to purchase Southwest Bancshares, a $2.4 billion‑asset institution with 11 additional branches. Combined, the deals...

The article recounts a consumer’s six‑week ordeal after a smishing attack led her bank to block both credit and debit cards, while fraudsters continued to use the compromised account. It highlights how legacy mainframe cores and fragmented software across branches,...

The Federal Reserve has ended its quantitative‑tightening program, shifting the primary engine of U.S. growth to commercial‑bank lending. At the same time, recent executive orders have put a central‑bank digital dollar on hold, leaving private‑bank‑issued stablecoins and deposits as the...

President Trump is pushing bipartisan legislation to bar large institutional investors from buying single‑family homes, echoing a Democratic effort to improve housing affordability. Data shows institutional owners hold roughly 0.4% of the nation’s single‑family inventory, with only 2% of investor‑owned...

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a proposed rule that formally authorizes national trust companies to engage in non‑fiduciary activities, replacing ambiguous language with a clear regulatory definition. The change codifies practices that already support roughly...

The Federal Reserve announced that, starting Jan. 14, it will once again accept penny deposits from banks and credit unions at all commercial coin‑distribution locations. The reversal follows industry backlash after the Fed halted penny intake at many terminals last fall,...

President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, creating a U.S. framework for dollar‑denominated stablecoins. Analysts forecast the market could reach $3 trillion by 2030, a ten‑fold increase. However, most other jurisdictions lack comparable rules, and many are likely to impose limits...

Pacific Valley Bank announced that Taylor Fresh Foods has taken a 16.3% ownership stake, including 9.9% of common shares, in the Salinas‑based community bank. The capital infusion is intended to fund organic growth as the bank’s assets have risen from...

Pacific Valley Bank announced that Taylor Fresh Foods has acquired a 16.3% ownership stake, investing an undisclosed amount. The corporate investment will support the bank’s growth and expand its lending capacity, with Taylor Fresh Foods taking a minority, non‑controlling position.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill unveiled a community‑bank deregulation package aimed at curbing regulatory "flip‑flop" when administrations change. The bill proposes tailoring provisions, eliminating reputational‑risk components from examinations, standardizing stress tests, raising size thresholds and redefining brokered deposits....

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman announced a potential overhaul of the regulatory framework for community banks. She proposes separating community‑bank oversight from larger institutions, updating asset thresholds by indexing them to nominal GDP, and reducing data‑reporting burdens....

Lloyds Banking Group issued a tokenized deposit on the public Canton Network and used it to purchase a UK gilt, marking one of the first real‑world applications of blockchain‑based deposit tokens. The move highlights banks’ push to offer tokenized deposits...

Visa and Mastercard are rapidly expanding value‑added services to offset slowing card‑payment growth and mounting regulatory pressure. Mastercard posted $3.4 billion in VAS net revenue, a 25% year‑over‑year rise, while Visa’s VAS reached $17.5 billion, up 9% YoY. Both networks are forging...

Industrial banks, regulated and FDIC‑insured, provide crucial credit to small businesses, gig workers, and underserved Main Street enterprises. Since their creation in 1987, only one has failed, and capital ratios are roughly 50 % above industry averages, indicating strong safety. Proponents...

Kontigo, a Venezuela‑focused crypto fintech, reported a cyber‑theft that drained about $341,000 USDC from 1,005 user accounts. The company said it has fully refunded the affected users despite losing access to U.S. banking partners like JPMorgan Chase and Checkbook due...

The Senate Banking Committee is poised to mark up a crypto market‑structure bill as early as next week, despite lingering partisan gaps. Lawmakers are debating provisions that would curb stable‑coin issuers from offering yield‑like rewards, a practice the American Bankers...

American Banker’s 2026 Predictions survey of 174 banking executives highlights growing anxiety over tariff volatility, recession and stagflation, and a volatile regulatory environment. Eighty‑eight percent expect tariff shocks, while more than half forecast a U.S. recession and global slowdown, and...

Fifth Third and Comerica secured near‑unanimous shareholder support for their $10.9 billion merger, with 99.7% and 97% votes respectively. The combined entity would hold about $288 billion in assets, making it one of the decade’s largest bank deals. Despite the approvals, the...

The FDIC’s Inspector General Jennifer Fain responded to Sen. Joni Ernst’s whistleblower allegations, concluding that most claims of fraud, favoritism, and misused travel funds were unsupported or already resolved. Internal reviews found no irregular year‑end Deposit Insurance Fund spending, justified...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an advisory opinion stating that employer‑partnered earned‑wage‑access (EWA) products are not credit under the Truth in Lending Act, dropping the earlier free‑product requirement and loosening payroll‑deduction rules. While fintechs view the guidance as validation...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2017 small‑dollar lending rule, revived in 2025, imposed strict payment‑attempt limits and mandatory notices. Online Lenders Alliance data show the rule has driven higher delinquency, default and collection rates, while forcing lenders to tighten credit...

Several large U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citizens Financial and TD Bank, reported higher overdraft‑related revenue in the first three quarters of 2025, with JPMorgan up 7.66% and Citizens up 16.9% year‑over‑year. The increases come despite overall overdraft income remaining...

Fifth Third and Comerica received near‑unanimous shareholder approval for their $10.9 billion merger, with 99.7% and 97% votes respectively. The deal still awaits Federal Reserve approval and faces a lawsuit from activist investor HoldCo Asset Management. If completed, the merger would...

A ransomware attack on marketing vendor Marquis Software Solutions has been revealed to have compromised personal data of at least 823,548 customers across 80 banks and credit unions. Internal emails suggest Marquis paid the Akira group to keep the stolen...

Commerce Bancshares finalized a $585 million all‑stock purchase of FineMark Holdings on New Year’s Day, expanding its wealth‑management platform to $90 billion in assets under administration. The deal marks the bank’s first acquisition in 12 years and positions it for growth in...