When looking at modernizing/improving the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA), regulators must look back on the past to see how we got here. This look backward, while disconcerting, is not difficult. Redlining was real. It was an accepted (and…
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In the Words of Nancy Regan, “Just Say No.”
Since the turn of the century, nearly 7,000 U.S. banks have disappeared from the ranks. As the quantity goes down, the assets of those that remain go up. As a result, we now have four U.S. banks that exceed the…
Lower Bank Fee Promisers (or Deliverers)
We promised you last week that we would delve more deeply into bank service fee income. In particular, we want to make sure the banks that are making promises to lower their fees, actually do so. To that end, we…
My It’s Chilly, Must be the (Over) Draft
Regulators, consumer activist groups and even some State Attorneys General have raised concerns about certain banks charging excessive fees. Overdraft fees are receiving the most scrutiny at present but maintenance fees have been called-out as well. Since 2010, Bauer has…
Banking for All With New Incentives
In 2011, 5-Star Green Dot Bank purchased Bonneville Bank, Provo, UT, and became the first Fintech Bank in the United States. In fact, the Bonneville branch on North Freedom Boulevard in Provo still operates much the same as it did…
Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
We saw an interesting article in the American Banker recently (March 25, 2022) about the “red-hot housing market” looking like 2007. There are definite similarities, no doubt. And for those of us who were around in the 1980s, it’s déjà…
Community Banks Steeped in Commercial Loans
Last week we reported on U.S. banks with robust Commercial & Industrial (C&I) loan growth during calendar 2021. In spite of the winding down of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), we found 51 established C&I lenders with at least 35%…
Signs of Life in C&I Lending, Will it Last?
We saw a glimmer of hope in the fourth quarter ’21 data that perhaps a resurgence of commercial and industrial (C&I) loan demand was on its way. Nearly a third of all U.S. banks increased their C&I loan portfolios during…
What a Quarter Point Rate Increase Means to You
You have probably already heard that the Federal Reserve bumped interest rates up a quarter point on Wednesday (3/16/22). You may have also discerned that we are looking at as many as six more boosts this year. Since the Fed’s…
All New C.U. Star-Ratings Now Available
As a whole, the nation’s credit unions performed admirably during calendar 2021. However, NCUA Chairman Todd Harper sounded a similar cautionary tone as we heard last week from his bank (FDIC) counterpart. “The potential for new COVID variants, continuing labor…