© 2025 Arizent. All rights reserved.

South African bank's approach to chatbots offers lessons for U.S. players

auto-011521-topten.png
Absa Group is drawing on global training data from the fintech Kasisto and annotators who review conversations with clients to help in fine-tuning its virtual assistant.

(Full story here.)

Small lenders embrace automation for latest PPP round

absa-011521-topten.jpeg
First Bank in New Jersey, Northeast Bank in Maine and others have warmed to the idea of using software to streamline Paycheck Protection Program lending so that employees can be more hands-on with customers.

(Full story here.)

Citi shuffles consumer banking leadership team

luchetti-011521-topten.jpeg
In a memo to staff on Tuesday, Citigroup announced a new head of U.S. consumer banking and said that two of its other high-ranking bankers would essentially switch roles.

(Full story here.)

Are Treasury, FHFA running out of time to approve GSE capital boost?

mnuchin-011521-topten.jpeg
The agency that supervises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has pushed for revising an agreement with the Treasury Department allowing the mortgage giants to retain their profits. A deal could be out of reach once Joe Biden takes office.

(Full story here.)

Canadian banks eye U.S. acquisitions

whitemasrani-011521-topten.png
Flush with excess capital, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank and others say they might be in the market to do a cross-border deal.

(Full story here.)

What banks, fintechs can learn from Simple's rise and sudden death

reich-011521-topten.jpeg
BBVA's acquisition of Simple, the first neobank, was closely watched as a possible model for others in the industry. But the shutdown last week of Simple has again stirred a debate about whether upstarts and traditional players can ever fit together.

(Full story here.)

In a first, OCC grants federal charter to crypto firm

monica-011521-topten.png
A co-founder of Anchorage Trust Co. said its digital bank, which will not take insured deposits, will enable the company to strengthen partnerships with financial institutions that offer custody services for clients' cryptocurrency assets.

(Full story here.)

SBA expanding PPP to small banks on Friday

ppp-011521-topten.jpeg
The Small Business Administration will allow lenders with less than $1 billion of assets to process applications in two days. The portal will open to all lenders on Tuesday.

(Full story here.)

Citi reorganizes wealth management units under one umbrella

odonnell-011521-topten.jpeg
The new global wealth division, which is being formed by combining the firm's private bank with a unit that serves substantially less wealthy households, will be led by Citi veteran Jim O'Donnell.

(Full story here.)

Uncertainty looms over PPP's relaunch

skinny-011521-topten.jpeg
Bankers have several unanswered questions about the Paycheck Protection Program before it reopens to select lenders on Monday. Among them: When will forms be available, and which portal will the Small Business Administration use?

(Full story here.)
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER