Rep. Hill Blames the Senate for Failing to Pass Bank Relief
House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill warned that two of his key banking reform bills—targeting digital assets and community‑bank relief—remain stalled in the Senate. He urged community‑bank lenders to pressure their senators to restore the stripped‑out provisions in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Hill also called for swift CFPB rule replacements for the 1033 personal‑data and 1071 small‑business data rules, and a coordinated fraud‑prevention effort involving retailers and federal agencies. A possible legislative trade could pair his community‑bank deregulation measures with Senate‑backed cryptocurrency legislation.
Bankers Say AI Is Not Eating Jobs, Yet
A new American Banker AI Talent Shift Survey 2026 finds only 3% of bankers report AI‑driven layoffs, while 28% see efficiency gains and 12% note role augmentation. Despite current optimism, 33% of executives at large national banks expect headcount reductions...
Banks Need to Get Serious About Climate Risk in Their Mortgage Books
Mortgage lenders are being urged to embed climate risk into underwriting as extreme weather events surge, threatening property values and insurance availability. In 2025, the United States experienced 23 billion‑dollar disasters, the third‑highest year on record, underscoring the financial stakes....
Solana 101: What It Is and Why some Banks Use It
Solana is positioning itself as a high‑throughput blockchain alternative to Ethereum, boasting over 25,000 transactions per second and fees that are a fraction of a cent. The network’s cryptographic clock eliminates ordering disputes, enabling a multi‑lane processing model. Major financial...
U.S. Bank, Mastercard Take Amazon's Small-Business Cards From Amex
U.S. Bank will assume issuance of Amazon’s Business and Business Prime credit cards, with Mastercard serving as the network provider, replacing American Express. The move opens a cross‑sell channel to Amazon’s roughly 1.9 million U.S. small‑business sellers and adds to U.S. Bank’s existing base of...
Maybe Wells Fargo's Unions Need a Blockchain
Unionization efforts at Wells Fargo have hit a setback as employees at branches in Apex, North Carolina; Spring Hill, Florida; and Casper, Wyoming are either voting to decertify or preparing to do so, reversing earlier victories that saw 28 locations successfully unionize. The...
Union Decertification Efforts at Wells Fargo Gain Steam
Union decertification efforts at Wells Fargo are accelerating after two branches—Apex, N.C., and Spring Hill, Fla.—voted to end union representation, while a third in Casper, Wyo., remains on hold pending a labor‑practice settlement. The bank, which operates over 4,000 branches, previously...
Former Flagstar Chairman to Step Down From Board of Directors
Alessandro DiNello, former Flagstar Financial CEO and non‑executive chairman, announced he will not seek re‑election and will leave the board on June 9. His departure follows a brief stint as executive chairman during a 2024 crisis that saw the bank post...
U.S. Bank Extends Loan Terms in Bid to Address Affordability
U.S. Bank announced it will extend its home‑improvement loan terms from five years to six or seven years, targeting larger renovation projects. The move is designed to address growing affordability concerns among American households as home‑improvement spending stays above $600 billion...
Loan Sale Cuts Bank's Thorny Ties to West Va. Lawmaker
Carter Bankshares sold its remaining Justice family loan portfolio for $289.5 million, covering $209.5 million of non‑performing loans and most lost interest. The transaction cuts the bank's non‑performing loan ratio from 6.29% to 0.82% and reverses an $18 million specific reserve, boosting tangible...
Square Updates AI to Expand and Speed up Merchant Lending
Square, the merchant‑focused arm of Block, has upgraded its machine‑learning underwriting engine to extend loans to seasonal and newly onboarded merchants. The new model can assess creditworthiness from a business’s first payment, cutting the evaluation period from weeks to minutes....
Fed's Miran Makes Case for Small Balance Sheet
Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran urged a substantial reduction of the Fed’s balance sheet, proposing a cut of $1‑$2 trillion to restore a more neutral monetary stance. He suggested easing liquidity‑coverage‑ratio rules, destigmatizing repo and discount‑window facilities, and allowing securities to...
Sen. Durbin, D-Ill., Reintroduces Credit Card Airline Bill
Sen. Dick Durbin has reintroduced legislation that would empower the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Transportation and the Federal Trade Commission to regulate airline‑branded credit cards and rewards programs. The bill would force airlines to disclose the monetary...
AEI Panel: GSEs Have Never Paid for Their Guarantee
The Trump administration has pledged to retain the implicit government guarantee for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but experts warned that the guarantee has never been paid for by taxpayers. A panel at the American Enterprise Institute highlighted that the...
House Gives Deposit Insurance Reform Another Try
The House Financial Services Committee unveiled a new legislative package to reform deposit insurance, featuring a revised Main Street Depositor Protection Act that caps coverage for non‑interest‑bearing business accounts at $5 million, down from earlier proposals of $10‑$20 million. The bill delegates...
FSOC Guidance Sets 'Very High' Bar for Nonbank Designation
The Financial Stability Oversight Council voted to issue guidance that pivots to an activities‑based framework for designating non‑bank firms as systemically important, reinstating the high‑threshold standards first used in 2019. The proposal rescinds the Biden‑era rule that lowered the bar,...
Zions' Latest Deal Will Boost Its Multifamily Business
Zions Bancorp announced an agreement to acquire Basis Investment Group’s multifamily lending business, gaining access to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan programs and associated servicing rights. The acquisition, pending agency approval, adds personnel and agency‑lending lines, positioning Zions to expand its...
Echelon Bank to Join 'Trickle' Of De Novos in Florida
Echelon Bank has met its $23 million capital target and secured both Florida state and FDIC approvals, positioning it to open in late May as Tampa Bay’s first new bank in five years. The launch joins a scant handful of de novo...
$300 AI Tool Kits Let Criminals Bypass Bank Security
Criminals can now purchase AI‑enabled identity‑fraud kits for under $300, combining stolen personal data, synthetic‑material printers and deep‑fake software to bypass bank KYC checks in minutes. Demonstrations at the 2026 RSAC conference showed tools like ProKYC feeding fabricated videos into...
MISMO, ALTA Issue New Title, Settlement Document Guidelines
The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) and the American Land Title Association (ALTA) have released two new digital datasets covering ALTA title policies and settlement statements. These standards convert traditional paper forms into structured data, enabling seamless exchange across...
Big Banks Are Leading the On-Chain and Stablecoin Race
American Banker’s 2026 Value of On‑Chain survey of 199 banking professionals shows large banks are furthest along in adopting on‑chain technology. About 30% have implemented or piloted on‑chain solutions, with cross‑border payments emerging as the leading use case for both...
More Home Sellers than Buyers, a Lot More
Redfin data reveals a record housing imbalance in February, with 630,000 more sellers than buyers – a 30 % year‑over‑year increase and the widest gap since 2013. Despite mortgage rates near four‑year lows, demand remains muted, turning most U.S. metros into...
It's Past Time for Paper Checks to Follow the Penny Into Extinction
Paper checks remain a costly, fraud‑prone legacy in the United States. In 2024 the Federal Reserve processed $175 billion in checks, incurring nearly $700 million in support costs, while checks accounted for 65% of payment‑fraud losses. Check volume has dropped 83% over...
Banks Urged to 'Shift Left' To Fight Elder Fraud
Elder financial exploitation cost U.S. seniors $4.9 billion in 2024, prompting banks and credit unions to adopt a “shift left” strategy that intervenes earlier in the fraud kill chain. Speakers at RSAC 2026 urged financial institutions to break down cyber‑fraud silos,...
Activist Investor Wants Board Shakeup at Maryland-Based Eagle
Activist investor Diligence Capital Management, owning 27,500 Eagle Bancorp shares, is urging the Maryland‑based lender to add three directors with bank‑turnaround experience and replace chairman James Soltesz. Eagle, a $10.5 billion‑asset bank, is still searching for a new CEO after a...
This Cash-Rich Boston-Area Bank Is on the Lookout for Deals
Cambridge Savings Bank, a depositor‑owned institution with $6.9 billion in assets, has bolstered its capital base and is now prepared to pursue regional acquisitions. Equity rose 16% to $703.5 million and deposits grew 3.6% to $5.57 billion, driven by its digital arm Ivy...
'I Did Not Call Myself a Dictator:' Credit-Union CEO
California Coast Credit Union CEO Todd Lane is embroiled in a rare, combative merger dispute with San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU). After SDCCU attempted to renegotiate the April 2025 deal and install its own CEO, Cal Coast sued, alleging breach of the...
Formerly 'Troubled' Bank Reaches Truce with Activist Investor
The Stilwell Group reached a standstill agreement with Lake Shore Bancorp, securing a board seat while agreeing not to buy more stock, sue, or force a sale. In return, Lake Shore appointed Dennis Pollack, a known Stilwell associate, to its...
Experts Celebrate White House Reversal on Bank Citizenship EO
Banking experts welcomed the White House’s decision to delay a Trump administration proposal that would have required banks to collect customers’ citizenship information. The mandate, seen as an extension of immigration enforcement into financial regulation, raised concerns about massive customer...
How Community Banks Can Get in on Stablecoins
Bank of North Dakota is launching Roughrider Coin, a stablecoin designed for wholesale, bank‑to‑bank payments, in partnership with Fiserv’s digital‑asset platform. The initiative demonstrates how a state‑owned, mid‑tier bank can create an instant payment rail without building the technology from scratch....
Leaders: Regional Banks in Today's Economy: M&T CEO Rene Jones
In a recent interview, M&T Bank CEO Rene Jones outlined how regional banks are navigating a higher‑interest‑rate environment and tighter credit conditions. He highlighted M&T’s focus on disciplined loan growth, bolstering deposit stability, and accelerating digital transformation to improve cost...
Community Bank CFO Convicted of Trying to Defraud Two Lenders
Former Bank of the Valley CFO Aaron Luneke was convicted of bank fraud and attempted fraud after securing $7.8 million in loans using fabricated contractor invoices. The scheme defrauded his own Nebraska bank ($4.3 million) and Minnesota’s Stearns Bank ($3.5 million) through shell...
Agentic AI Shopping Bots Are Coming. Banks Need to Be Ready
Agentic AI shopping bots from firms like Google, Amazon and Visa are poised to execute purchases and payments on behalf of consumers, thrusting banks into a new risk landscape. Existing charge‑back rules under Reg E and Reg Z may not apply, leaving...
Trump Push on RON Faces Real-World Limits
President Trump’s executive order pushes for broader use of digital mortgages, electronic signatures and remote online notarization (RON). While RON is already permitted in 48 states, many jurisdictions retain temporary authorizations and lenders balk at the extra cost of parallel...
Scott: Yield Compromise Could Arrive by the End of the Week
Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott said a compromise on the crypto market‑structure bill could be in hand by the end of the week. The dispute centers on banks’ demand to bar crypto firms from offering yield‑like rewards on stablecoins,...
FDIC Mulling Guardrails for Banks, Public Blockchains
The FDIC has rolled back its 2022 guidance that limited banks from interacting with public, permissionless blockchains, signaling a more permissive stance under Chair Travis Hill. Hill indicated that while the agency will focus on implementing the GENIUS Act, it...
UBS Nears Full Credit Suisse Integration by Finishing IT Project
UBS has finished migrating roughly 1.2 million former Credit Suisse clients onto its own platforms, marking a pivotal step in the three‑year integration that began after the 2023 rescue acquisition. The bank now enters the final integration phase, focusing on decommissioning...
What Happens when You Use ChatGPT to Sell Your Home?
A South Florida homeowner, Robert Levine, sold his house using ChatGPT for marketing copy, pricing guidance, and document drafting, claiming cost savings. Real‑estate brokers and loan officers cautioned that AI cannot replace the nuanced negotiation and emotional intelligence of licensed...
Fed Inquiry Into Checks Has Bankers Fearing 'Disaster'
Community bankers are warning that the Federal Reserve’s request for information on the future of its check‑clearing services could lead to an abrupt shutdown of the system, harming elderly, rural customers and small businesses that still rely on paper checks....
White House Order to Increase Small Bank Mortgage Lending
The White House issued an executive order directing the CFPB and banking regulators to tailor mortgage rules for community banks, aiming to revive small‑bank participation in mortgage lending. The order follows a bipartisan Senate housing bill but highlights the House’s...
Enforcement Is Down Under Trump. Is that a Problem?
Bank‑level enforcement actions by the FDIC, OCC, Fed and NCUA fell 55% from 116 in 2024 to 52 in 2025, with quarterly new cases dropping from 20 to just two. At the same time, terminated actions more than doubled, reaching...
As Charge-Backs Spike, Banks Should Avoid These 5 Missteps
Charge‑backs are accelerating, with Datos Insights forecasting 359 million disputes by 2029 and an average dispute value rising 16% to $251. Each U.S. dispute costs banks $9‑10 to process, translating into billions of annual expenses. Banks frequently err by rubber‑stamping claims,...
Fannie, Freddie Share Sale Likely After Midterms or Later
Wedbush analysts say any secondary share offering by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will likely be delayed until after the 2026 midterm elections, as the administration focuses on lowering mortgage costs. Low trading prices—around $5.88 for Fannie and $5.16 for Freddie—combined...
Inside the World of 'PayPal's AG'
PayPal’s global financial‑crime chief, David Szuchman, leverages his two‑decade law‑enforcement background to counter a 600% surge in fraud attacks that threaten the fintech’s trillion‑dollar transaction flow. The company has integrated AI that evaluates over 500 data points and launched an...
Zelle Ventures Into Charitable Disbursements with Bank of America
Zelle has partnered with Bank of America to launch a charitable‑disbursement service for donor‑advised funds, replacing slow ACH and check processes with instant transfers. The proof‑of‑concept uses BofA’s Charitable Gift Fund, which last year distributed over $1.3 billion through more than...
War in Middle East May Press Pause on Bank Deal Boom
Bank merger‑and‑acquisition activity surged in 2025, but the war in Iran has introduced sharp stock‑price volatility that threatens to stall the consolidation wave. Falling bank‑stock values erode the equity currency traditionally used to fund deals, pushing pricing down and making...
Mastercard Boosts Agentic Commerce, Adds Crypto Network
Mastercard announced two strategic moves to broaden its revenue beyond card fees: a live agentic commerce test in Malaysia using its Agent Pay platform, and the launch of a global Crypto Partner Program that enlists over 85 cryptocurrency firms. The AI‑driven...
These Housing Markets Face the Greatest Risk of Decline
Attom’s latest housing‑risk report finds Florida leading the nation with 16 counties among the 50 most vulnerable, overtaking California’s 11. The analysis flags rising foreclosures, stagnant wages, and historically high median home prices—now $365,185—as key stressors. Charlotte County, Florida, tops...
OCC's Gould Fleshes Out Goals for Core Provider Review
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is deepening its fact‑finding on the highly concentrated core banking‑software market, where three vendors serve more than 70% of banks. Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the agency is engaging both banks and...
UBS Hits Impasse in Federal Court over Nazi-Era Controversy
UBS asked a federal judge to issue a clarifying order that the 1999 settlement with Jewish groups bars any new lawsuits or public statements about its predecessor Credit Suisse’s Nazi‑era activities. The hearing in Brooklyn ended without a ruling, as...