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BB&T-SunTrust: Three big questions

Signage for BB&T and SunTrust banks.
Why now? Will it work? How will their rivals respond? The megadeal between the two East Coast regionals offers up plenty of grist for speculation.

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GSE reform, CFPB underwriting rule are on collision course

Kathy Kraninger
Kathy Kraninger, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) nominee for U.S. President Donald Trump, listens during a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 19, 2018. Kraninger, a little-known official who has worked for the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since March 2017, is poised to succeed her boss Mick Mulvaney as director of the CFPB. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Absent some policy change, nearly a third of the loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Qualified Mortgage rule in two years.

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BB&T, SunTrust to combine in $28B merger

BB&T Chairman and Chief Executive Kelly King
Kelly King, chairman and chief executive officer of BB&T Corp., right, speaks during a Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting with Cyrus Amir-Mokri, assistant secretary of financial institutions with the U.S. Treasury, at the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Dec. 9, 2013. The FSOC discussed cybersecurity and received a presentation from the Office of Financial Research on financial market developments. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Kelly King; Cyrus Amir-Mokri
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The industry's largest acquisition in more than a decade will create the sixth-biggest bank in the country, with assets of more than $442 billion.

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'A lot of people are going to get hurt': Petrou on fintech risk

KarenShaw Petrou recommendations on fintech policy reforms
Policymakers need to update banking regulations to minimize the risks posed by technology companies entering financial services, a well-known policy analyst says in a new paper.

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Is this Swift's answer to Ripple?

By the numbers chart on Swifts' GPI technology for payments tracking
Swift is showing more swagger in its rivalry with Ripple thanks to progress it has made with a multifaceted payments-tracking technology called GPI.

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Wells Fargo glitch causes widespread outage, leaves customers fuming

Signage is displayed outside a Wells Fargo bank branch in Los Angeles.
Customers reported being unable to access online banking, mobile banking or their debit cards.

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Mergers like Fiserv-First Data are a red flag for banks

tech-apps.jpeg
Caucasian business hands holding tablet with business screen
ranczandras/ra2 studio - stock.adobe.com
As major vendors consolidate, financial institutions should be looking to adopt emerging technologies, rather than relying solely on legacy firms to provide services.

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Fed exempts most regional banks from stress testing in 2019

Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles
Randal Quarles, vice chairman of supervision at the U.S. Federal Reserve, listens during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Quarles played down the risk of automation eliminating jobs and noted the "strong demand for labor in our current economy" as well as the hope that technology will enhance worker productivity. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg
Zach Gibson/Bloomberg
The exemption was included in a suite of other changes unveiled to provide greater transparency to the Fed's stress testing regime.

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Will BB&T-SunTrust set off a new wave of regional bank mergers?

AB-020719-DOMINO.jpg
The stars aligned for the two longtime rivals to join forces, and some observers speculate that other regional banks will need to strike similar partnerships if they hope to remain competitive. But others say such deals are rare because they're hard to pull off.

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Shorter terms, higher rates: How CECL could upend lending

AB-020419-CECL.jpeg
Bankers weigh their options in mortgage and CRE lending as implementation of a new accounting standard nears.

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M&A GSEs Fintech regulations Faster payments Stress tests CECL BB&T SunTrust SWIFT Wells Fargo
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