Growth strategies

The merger would create a company with nearly 400 branches, 87 loan production offices and $87 billion of assets.

Acquiring AmeriHome would provide the fee revenue the Phoenix company seeks to compensate for low interest rates and tepid commercial loan demand. The deal also would allow it to reinvest billions of dollars of excess liquidity.

The Arizona company will pay $1 billion for the parent of AmeriHome Mortgage, which manages a $99 billion mortgage servicing portfolio.

Home loans accounted for the bulk of the industry’s lending gains in 2020, but inventory shortages in some markets and an uneven economic recovery may dim prospects this year.

First Foundation is relocating its corporate headquarters to Dallas, where the tax burden is lighter and it sees more opportunity to beef up lending, add wealth management clients and pursue acquisitions of community banks.

The California company acquired Civic Financial Services, which makes loans to residential real estate investors.

Amerant Mortgage includes several former bankers from City National Bank of Florida in Miami.

The bank agreed to acquire A Mortgage Boutique, which operates in six states.

The switch to Thomas Cangemi from longtime CEO Joseph Ficalora could foreshadow a push to curtail the company’s reliance on multifamily lending and the pursuit of a bank acquisition that lowers funding costs.

Noninterest income has bolstered profits this year. But its growth is expected to slow over the next two years, making for a gloomy earnings outlook unless vaccine distributions and the economic recovery are relatively swift.

The company is looking to tap into a surge of homebuying tied to historically low interest rates.

The company's outgoing CFO discussed ways the asset cap is stunting growth, but provided no updates at an industry conference on when the restriction might be lifted or the types of jobs it will cut.

When Jane Fraser takes the reins of Citigroup in February, she will have to tackle the company’s cards slump, lagging performance metrics and challenges presented by employees’ return to the office.

MatlinPatterson, which once owned more than 60% of the Michigan company, has been paring back its stake in recent years.

The outbreak has completely upended whatever expectations the industry had heading into 2020. Here's key areas that have been shaped by the pandemic, some potentially forever.

The North Carolina company will hold onto the loans after the Fed's decision to slash interest rates.

A new National Credit Union Administration proposal would raise the threshold for residential mortgages that require appraisals. However, the final rule is by no means a done deal.

The National Credit Union Administration has unveiled a proposal to address a federal judge's concerns that its 2016 field-of-membership overhaul could discourage lending in low-income areas.

Count Citizens Financial’s Bruce Van Saun among those who think interest rate cuts could halt by mid-2020. The key, he says, is to focus on delivering services customers are willing to pay fees for and to skillfully reprice deposits until then.

The industry has taken some steps to lower barriers to affordable housing, but some observers say that more can be done.