Allissa Kline

Two years ago, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank promised $11.2 billion in community development support. Activists want First Citizens, which acquired much of the failed bank, to fulfill the commitment.

Lenders had started tightening as early as the fourth quarter in anticipation of a possible recession. Now, the banking crisis is driving community and regional banks in particular to hit the brakes harder, stoking renewed recessions fears.

After a bank run led to Signature Bank's failure, New York Community Bancorp bought much of what was left from the FDIC. The acquirer now faces questions about how it will persuade the remaining depositors to stick around.

Shadows loomed over Credit Suisse and First Republic early Thursday, but the sector outlook brightened after billions of deposits were pledged to the U.S. bank.

The FDIC named Greg Carmichael, who retired last year as CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp, to run a bridge bank that will hold Signature's deposits and most of its assets.

The Long Island company is closing 69% of the retail home lending offices previously operated by Flagstar Bancorp. New York Community recently acquired Flagstar for $2.6 billion.

A month after the National Community Reinvestment Coalition blasted KeyBank's mortgage lending record to Black borrowers, the group said it will send letters to the Federal Reserve and OCC about its findings.

In his first American Banker interview since becoming CEO two years ago, Thomas Cangemi talks about the company's transformation into a full-service commercial bank now that it has completed its twice-delayed acquisition of Flagstar Bancorp.

Eighteen months after the $2.6 billion deal was announced — and five days before the Oct. 31 deadline — New York Community is still waiting for regulatory approval to buy the Michigan bank. On their joint earnings call, the companies wouldn't say where the deal stands.

The rating agency has revised the long-term issuer default rating for PacWest Bancorp and its banking subsidiary, Pacific Western Bank, from "BBB" to "BBB-" and says it doesn't expect the bank's common equity Tier 1 ratio to bounce back anytime soon.

The company says it’s making progress on other parts of its business-model revamp — including a shift to lower-cost deposit sources — while regulators weigh its application to buy Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Michigan.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expressed even deeper concern Wednesday about the likelihood of an economic downturn than he has in recent months. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf was less pessimistic, but he still spoke of the “reality that the economy has to slow.”

The two companies, which have not received government approval to complete their now year-old pending deal, postponed the deadline to Oct. 31 and have decided to make the combined entity a national bank.

Multifamily and specialty finance loans, which were highlights during the fourth quarter, should increase further in 2022, company executives said.

The deal for Michigan-based Flagstar Bancorp, announced in April, was originally expected to be completed by the end of the year. The New York bank’s CEO expressed optimism that it will still get regulatory approval.

The Indiana company told investors that it’s ready to complete its combination with First Midwest Bancorp but that it’s unclear whether a recently filed mortgage discrimination lawsuit will get in the way of Fed approval.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated income inequality in America, and that has implications for banks and other lenders. Among those suffering most: renters, front-line workers and minority small-business owners.

CEO Thomas Cangemi is pushing to modernize a bank that for decades was focused largely on multifamily lending. The company has already agreed to buy the mortgage lender Flagstar Bancorp and its partnership with Figure Technologies, a blockchain-focused fintech, has the potential to make that acquisition more productive.

Fears of widespread credit losses have largely subsided, but demand for new commercial real estate loans remains lackluster because many companies are sitting on so much cash they don’t need to borrow. Meanwhile, competition from private equity groups and other nonbank lenders is escalating.

In a pandemic-scarred year, boards and compensation committees at 60 large and regional banks relied less on the normal performance metrics and more on qualitative criteria to determine bonus payments.