Latest banking news roundup, April 1, 2022

Banking news roundup

April 1, 2022 2:51 PM

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

Our latest serving of bonus coverage includes multiple stories on payments and crypto, a Colorado bank's deal to buy a Wyoming bank and Klarna's creation of an open banking unit.

Scroll through to see what you might have missed this week in banking, recruiting, regulation and more.

New Citizens account has zero overdraft fees

Bloomberg

Citizens Financial Group unveiled a low-free, no-overdraft-fee checking account. Making good on a promise last fall to offer an affordable checking account for low-income consumers, the Providence, Rhode Island-based company this week launched Citizens EverValue Checking, which costs $5 a month and has been certified by the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund as meeting Bank On national account standards. In addition to zero overdraft fees, the account is free of nonsufficient-funds fees. The $188.4 billion-asset Citizens also announced it will soon allow customers to receive their direct deposits up to two days early. That feature is set to roll out during the second quarter, it said. — Allissa Kline

Warren issues new call for digital dollar

Elizabeth Warren.

Bloomberg

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is pushing the U.S. to create a central bank digital currency, saying "it's time to move in that direction" in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd on Thursday evening. Warren in the past has said a CBDC could improve access to the financial system while reducing the risk of private digital currencies such as crypto. The U.S. is among dozens of countries that are considering a CBDC, though it has not yet formally launched a program. One of the issues to be determined is the role of banks in a CBDC, with Republicans preferring a greater role for banks in managing CBDC disbursements. — John Adams

Visa launches accelerator for NFTs

Bloomberg

Nonfungible tokens, which are digital representations of art or other content, are still an emerging innovation for payment companies. But there is an opportunity to process payments for NFT sales and use the images for incentive marketing, drawing attention from the card networks. Visa this week launched a Creator Program for digital artists, musicians, fashion designers and filmmakers to build their businesses through NFTs. Each cycle of the program will support a group of developers that want to understand the technology that supports NFT commerce. The card network said NFTs can potentially be an accelerator for the "creator" economy. — John Adams

National Bank Holdings buying Wyoming bank

Adobe Stock

National Bank Holdings in Greenwood Village, Colorado, said Friday it has agreed to purchase Bancshares of Jackson Hole in Wyoming for $230 million in cash and stock. Acquiring the $1.6 billion-asset Bancshares would expand National Bank Holdings’ footprint in Wyoming and Idaho, including Boise. The buyer also would gain a trust and wealth management business. The combined company would have $8.8 billion of assets and $7.7 billion of deposits. National Bank Holdings projects earning per share accretion of nearly 16% in 2023. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2022. — Jim Dobbs

Klarna starts an open banking unit

Bloomberg

The buy now/pay later lender Klarna has launched Klarna Kosma, a sub-brand and business unit that offers financial institutions, fintechs and merchants an application programming interface to connect with about 15,000 banks in two dozen countries. The connections are designed to power open banking, or rails that enable data sharing between banks and third parties such as fintech apps. Klarna's earlier moves in open banking include acquiring the German digital payment firm Sofort in 2014. Klarna says the general growth of open banking has created a need for a distinct business unit. — John Adams

Mastercard hires payments exec from Goldman Sachs

Bloomberg

Mastercard hired Chad Wallace as executive vice president of business-to-business solutions to oversee B2B payments including virtual cards, fleet cards, purchasing cards and corporate travel and expense payment products. Wallace joins Mastercard after a stint at Goldman Sachs as global head of digital for transaction banking. He is also joining Mastercard’s executive committee. — Kate Fitzgerald

Nova Credit makes connection with Verizon

David Paul Morris

Verizon has teamed up with Nova Credit, a company that helps newcomers to the U.S. qualify for credit using their international credit history. Recent arrivals from 12 countries, including Canada, India, Mexico and the Philippines, can opt into the program to share their international credit history with Verizon as part of the application for device financing. “Obtaining a cell phone plan is an essential part of the relocation journey faced by millions of newcomers each year, yet they are forced to rely on very limited options,” Misha Esipov, a co-founder of Nova and its CEO, said in a press release. — Miriam Cross

Volante and KPMG collaborate for ISO 20022 switch

Volante Technologies, which supports cloud-based global payments, has teamed with the consulting firm KPMG International to create solutions for banks migrating to the new ISO 20022 payments standard. In November 2025 all financial institutions within the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) must switch completely to the ISO 20022 standard to comply with new international rules for cross-border and correspondent banking messaging. The move supports the gradual global shift to real-time payments. Volante, of Jersey City, New Jersey, works with more than 100 banks in 35 countries. KPMG's client roster includes thousands of financial institutions. — Kate Fitzgerald