Wealth management

Dr. Mark Calabria takes on the additional role of chief statistician of the United States; retired Ally Bank executive Diane Morais has joined First Citizens Bancshares' board of directors; MainStreet Bank has promoted Alex Vari to chief financial officer; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

The CEOs of Bank of New York Mellon and Northern Trust have had at least one discussion about a potential merger, according to a Wall Street Journal article. On Monday, a spokesperson for Northern Trust said the bank "is fully committed to remaining independent."

Rapidly rising tuition and housing costs both contributed to lower homeownership rates and a more than twofold surge in student debt in under 15 years.

Royal Bank of Canada executives said they plan to start originating more mortgages in the United States, and they indicated that they may ditch the City National Bank brand.

The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index is down more than 7% year to date. Analysts blame confusion caused by President Trump's evolving tariff policies and heightened worries about an economic downturn that could hurt banks' credit quality.

The newly created entity, Rithm Acquisition, is a possible, albeit unlikely, way to finally take its NewRez mortgage lending business public.

A slower rate of price increases would boost the likelihood of an interest-rate cut that could expand loan demand and lower banks' deposit costs. A higher pace of inflation, however, could derail those catalysts.

The sale of the $318 million-asset portfolio comes five weeks after the Greenville, South Carolina-based company agreed to sell its investment advisory unit.

Shares in U.S. banks weren't immune to a global market sell-off, as worries mounted over whether the U.S. economy's recent resilience is faltering. The turmoil hit some tech stocks hard and led to the worst day for Japanese stocks since the 1980s.

A federal judge agrees with plaintiffs that the Federal Trade Commission lacks authority to set rules on unfair competition.