Banking

Followers of Islam cannot pay interest on loans. Androscoggin Bank figured out a way to structure a new product that addresses that challenge and paves a path to more homeownership.

The work-from-home era has wrecked old assumptions about the need for office space, leaving an unprofitable glut in the market, Willy Walker said.

Home-purchase applications fell to the lowest level in a generation last week — and demand may be depressed even further when the pandemic-era freeze on student debt ends in October, according to a poll conducted by Pulsenomics LLC among more than 100 housing experts. 

Forget special offers, ubiquitous branches and promises of convenience. Younger clients want to see state-of-the-art technology and hear good things from friends and family, according to a recent Arizent survey.

The job cuts come amid caution about the industry's growth potential in the second half of the year. Some 45,000 positions have been lost in banking and related industries over the last two-plus years.

Demand-driven inflation will continue to be a problem in the U.S. economy until we somehow work through trillions of excess liquidity provided by the Federal Open Market Committee, writes the Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

Banks pay millions of dollars each year to have their names become part of the lexicon of sports-obsessed Americans. Here's a look at the largest deals, which span pro baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer.

Banking and credit union regulators encouraged compassionate treatment of customers in Hawaii communities hit by wildfires. They also vowed to grant expedited approvals of temporary banking facilities, be flexible in compliance matters and provide other support to financial institutions.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is adding advanced models that include rental payment histories and trended data, but others tap cell phone or consumer-permissioned bank data.

Removing such debt information from consumer reports generated an uptick in home loan inquiries in one study and other industries have found advanced score use pays off.

The credit-reporting agency was fined $650,000 for sending customers marketing emails without an option to unsubscribe. Financial institutions are subject to the same law, called the CAN-SPAM Act.

Industry executives coming off a tough year are wondering what the transition will cost and how many borrowers it'll bring in.

This first step in updating borrower assessments was seen as the easiest and could reduce costs, but stakeholders fear change that reduces data inputs.

The company is rolling out a special-purpose credit program to help address what it describes as "the biggest barriers to achieving homeownership." Such programs are gaining popularity among banks.

Moody's said higher funding costs, a potential decline in bank capital and growing risk in the commercial real-estate industry prompted many of the downgrades.

Firms that had ratings cut included M&T Bank, Webster Financial, BOK Financial, Old National Bancorp, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Fulton Financial.

Lenders including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have been trying to sell debt backed by offices, hotels and even apartments in recent months, but many are finding that tidying up loan books is no easy feat when concerns about commercial real estate have surged.

The Federal Reserve is leading the push for broader, more standardized risk-capital rules, yet some of its board members, other regulators and industry groups are uncomfortable with the proposal.

The decision from the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow lenders to review only two credit reports for mortgage applicants will harm homebuyers with less than perfect credit, writes the founder and CEO of Financial Services Innovation Coalition and a certified general appraiser at the Dawson Valuation Group.

The racially targeted mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022 has renewed conversations about whether banks have a duty to help segregated, impoverished communities that were shaped in part by discriminatory lending practices. What do banks owe the Black community, and what influence could they have?