Health care, home improvement, cannabis, gaming and college students are among the areas banks are targeting with the help of innovative tools.

The bank asked to move the discrimination case from a Black magistrate to a supervising White district judge, which attorneys for plaintiffs said was an attempt to ‘redline the federal court.’

In the agreement, the bank denied allegations that it refused to issue a mortgage until one of the applicants returned to work from maternity leave.

Servicing gains failed to offset steep origination declines at the bank, which continues to battle allegations of racial discrimination.

A former Wells Fargo executive will replace Bair next month as part of a broader shakeup of the government-sponsored lender's leadership ranks. Chief Executive Hugh Frater is also stepping down.

The municipality and the bank have been at odds over similar issues in the past, and no agency currently has deposit accounts with the lender.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau argues borrowers in the case had a right to answers even if the inquiries were origination related and foreclosure litigation was pending.

New York Fed researchers found that banks operating in areas hit by tornadoes, floods and other calamities weren’t financially hurt by those disasters. That surprising result comes with significant caveats, however.

The core function of the Federal Home Loan Bank System — advances to member institutions — plummeted 20% last year to $350 billion, its lowest level in 15 years. That erosion of purpose is emboldening critics, who say the Home Loan banks need to change or face irrelevance.

Questionnaires sent to banks in recent months seek information about loans to same-sex couples, women on maternity leave and people with limited English proficiency. Industry executives and attorneys say the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be offering hints about specific types of fair-lending cases it could pursue.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will potentially be banning business practices, forcing the divestiture of business lines and working with state agencies to revoke licenses, Director Rohit Chopra said Monday. He called out five big banks by name for repeatedly crossing legal lines.

The complaint seeks unspecified damages over the bank’s mortgage origination and underwriting practices, alleging minority homebuyers were excluded from affordable, low-risk loans.

"In many cases, these are fees where there's not even a service provided or where the bank or financial institution doesn't even do any work,” Rohit Chopra of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday in public remarks.

The moves, which are part of a multiyear strategy, are meant to focus resources in areas where the Spanish banking giant can earn solid returns.

Derek Flowers, a 24-year company veteran, will replace the retiring Amanda Norton. Flowers' familiarity with the megabank's operations will help as it continues working through regulatory consent orders, CEO Charlie Scharf said.

The Secured Overnight Financing Rate has benefited — amid the phaseout of Libor — from positive comments by regulators. Is a multirate environment, which some banks would prefer, still possible?