Jim Dobbs

Brady Torgerson, former president of First Security Bank-West, was sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud at two banks.

The Pittsburgh bank posted a solid profit and said that it expects continued loan growth. But the pace of business expansion could slow alongside an economic downturn.

BayFirst Financial Corp. said it initiated the process of shuttering its out-of-state network of residential mortgage loan production offices.

Bank lending activity grew at a strong clip in the second quarter and continues to expand. Yet rising interest rates and recession concerns could hamper future growth.

The fast-paced rise in rates should be good for banks — until it isn't. The higher interest earned on loan payments will at some point be offset by higher interest paid on deposits. The only questions are: When, and by how much?

Most banks’ interest income will rise following the Fed policy shift. But the rate increase also boosts the likelihood of a recession that could hurt borrowers and drive up loan losses.

An American Bankers Association panel of experts predicted much slower economic growth, but agreed that the U.S. economy will avoid a recession over the next couple of years.

Multiple factors have slowed residential sales, tightening the market for home loans for banks and credit unions.

As inflation increases, more companies are shifting to remote and hybrid work to get their costs under control. Landlords could face rising vacancies and tumbling revenue, leaving them behind on loan payments.

Banking executives and analysts worry that the Federal Reserve's aggressive plan to raise interest rates will be insufficient to tame inflation and overcome economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.

Borrowers expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next year to contain soaring prices and are locking in favorable terms now, bankers say.

With its agreement to buy KS StateBank’s residential mortgage operation, Kansas-based Armed Forces is going all in on home lending.

The San Francisco bank reported a 26% increase in its third-quarter earnings, thanks to robust single-family, multifamily and commercial real estate loan activity in New York, Boston and its home city.

Consumers are booking rooms at levels not seen since early 2020 and loan delinquencies have fallen sharply as a result. Still, business travel remains sluggish and new COVID variants are spreading, threatening the hotel industry’s recovery.

Even as lockdowns ease, the trend toward remote work poses challenges for building owners and the banks that lend to them.

Kerry Killinger, former CEO of Washington Mutual, says the asset bubbles and increased consumer debt that contributed to his company's failure are reappearing.

At first the deal seemed an unlikely marriage of two mortgage-heavy companies. But acquiring the Michigan company would help New York Community accomplish its two chief goals — reducing deposit costs and its concentration of multifamily loans — while giving it the scale to pursue more deals.

The Michigan company recently paid $70 million to close the books on a matter dating to the last financial crisis.

Deferrals may be hiding credit issues, leading lenders to track deposit flows, property maintenance and other factors to gauge the true health of their portfolios.

Low rates and intense competition might lead some banks to ease underwriting standards in 2021, when the economy may not yet have recovered.