As 2024 comes to a close, issues such as struggling banks and
Flushing Financial took a hit in the
Flushing's transaction will help the bank boost its return on average assets and earnings per share, CEO John Buran said in an interview. Flushing plans to sell about $400 million to $500 million in securities and about $100 million in CRE loans. The bank also expects to reduce its government deposits — acquired through relationships with municipalities in New York — by about $150 million.
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Other banks that have raised capital lately, like
In addition to repositioning its securities portfolio this year, Dime is also unwinding an employee pension plan by distributing payments. Ending the plan is expected to cost the bank about $1 million in the fourth quarter and $2 million more in the first quarter of 2025.
Dime has been growing over the past two years, rapidly hiring commercial lenders to capitalize in part on the disruption caused by the 2023 failure of
"The momentum in our business is extremely strong," Stuart Lubow, Dime's president and CEO, said during the company's latest earnings call. He acknowledged the rising costs, however, and said the bank expected to "keep expense levels relatively flat in the fourth quarter and into 2025 as we are working on a number of efficiency optimization initiatives."
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Trump is stating his plans to keep the United States competitive in crypto. He tapped PayPal co-founder David Sacks to be his
While enacted policies toward crypto engagement could be beneficial for banks looking to enter the space, greater legitimacy of the sector could cause
Some in the crypto space say it is essential that the crypto and traditional bank worlds work together for innovation, but also to preserve free-market ideals in the burgeoning world of digital finance.
Paul Neuner, CEO of the digital asset firm Telcoin, sees bank-issued stablecoins as a counterweight to state-issued central bank digital currencies. His firm is pursuing a banking license in Nebraska and ultimately hopes to gain access to the national payments system under the Trump administration.
"We're doing the free-world model, which maintains that a bank is an intermediary between the citizens and the government, and I think that's very important. I think that's the model that'll win out in the majority of countries," Neuner told American Banker's
Read on for more on recent banking struggles and Trump's plans for crypto.
Trump discusses his plan for a crypto reserve
During an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, Trump reiterated his intentions for a crypto reserve, adding that he sees innovation in the space as being a matter of
"We're going to do something great with crypto," he said in the interview. "Because we don't want China — and not just China, others are embracing it, and we want to be the head."
Trump first endorsed the idea of a strategic reserve of crypto assets over the summer, during a speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. At the time, he suggested the government could build up the reserve over time by retaining assets seized from criminals rather than auctioning them off.
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Flushing Financial's restructuring of balance sheet felt in stock market
Flushing Financial faced a tough day in the stock market on Dec. 13, after the New York bank said it was raising $70 million to restructure its balance sheet, joining the ranks of banks that have recently announced common stock offerings.
Buran also contended that the recent disruption in the New York banking market —
"We felt that this is really an appropriate time to accelerate the performance dynamics of the company by entering into a balance-sheet restructuring, so that we can see some immediate improvements," Buran told American Banker's
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Dime's efforts to reposition securities portfolio results in losses
Dime Community Bancshares repositioned its securities portfolio in 2024 by selling low-yielding holdings at losses, creating near-term hits to earnings but generating proceeds the bank can reinvest into profitable endeavors.
The Hauppauge, New York-based Dime said in a press release on Dec. 12 that it sold $379 million of debt securities with a weighted average yield of 1.20% and a duration of just over three years. The
Analyst Steve Moss of Raymond James told American Banker's
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Tesla adopts real-time payments through Origence
According to Capgemini's
Some auto-finance firms are adopting real-time payments. Origence, a
Tesla is Origence and Catalyst's first FedNow user in auto lending.
"Tesla is a publicly traded company. They have their month-ends and quarter-end figures that they have to do," Origence Chief Financial Officer Neetu Bhagat told American Banker's
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Headline inflation slightly increased in November
Headline inflation saw a slight increase in November, according to the Labor Department's leading price measurement survey, the consumer price index, providing further evidence that the U.S. economy is not only strong but possibly gaining steam. Inflation still remains above the Fed's target of 2%, at 2.7%.
The headline inflation increase was driven by a resurgence of food and utility gas prices. In the core index, price growth related to housing and transportation cooled.
The Fed's target for inflation is based on a government survey known as the personal consumption expenditures index, which tends to reflect a lower price growth rate. Its most recent reading from that report showed 2.3% inflation in October, putting it closer to the Fed's objective.
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