Banks have recently navigated challenges ranging from lawsuits and settlements to adapting payments technology to include crypto, and even broad skepticism in the wake of bank failures. But a strong federal jobs report in early June boosted confidence within the industry, with the market reflecting the positive news at that time.
After two years of
Gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.3% in the first quarter of 2024 after advancing 3.4% in the final quarter of 2023, according to the
Investors have shifted their focus from concerns that a strong labor market would delay
Fed officials said in statements this spring that
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Elsewhere in the industry, payments companies, including
"It's not intuitive to send and receive crypto using most
That makes
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"With its crypto credential,
Read more about the recent issues facing the banking industry and what these mean for investors.
The 20 top-performing publicly traded banks with under $2B of assets
American Banker publishes an annual list of the top-performing publicly traded banks with under $2 billion of assets using data compiled by the consulting firm Capital Performance Group. The ranking is based on data from year-end 2023 and uses the institutions' three-year average return on average equity, or ROAE, to determine the ranking.
For 2024, FFB Bancorp topped the list, moving up from its ranking of No. 4 last year. The Fresno, California-based institution's ROAE was 29.7%, roughly double the median of 14.87% for the top 100. For all publicly traded banks with under $2 billion of assets, the median ROAE was 10.91%.
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New NYCB leadership faces tough questioning from shareholders
New York Community Bancorp's new executive management team presented to shareholders on June 5, answering questions to those who have lost substantial value on their investments.
One shareholder wanted to know why investors should sign off on the additional capital, which came from an investment group led by former Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Although the capital infusion was announced March 6 and closed six days later, New York Community was
"If the capital raise was not ready to go specifically that afternoon, the chances of the company surviving would have been at a peril," CEO Joseph Otting told shareholders during the meeting. "As we look back today, it was the right decision for the company, it was the right decision for the investors, and collectively we will work very hard to reestablish the value of this company going forward."
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Settlement reached in Comerica Bank's Direct Express lawsuit
Comerica Bank agreed to a proposed $1.2 million settlement to a class-action lawsuit that would end a five-year court battle against
Comerica and Conduent — a large conglomerate and call-center operator based in Florham Park, N.J. — denied any wrongdoing. Even so, the two companies did not track fraud claims and were unable to identify and provide the court with the names of beneficiaries who had filed fraud claims over a four-and-a-half-year period, according to the
"Defendants expressly reserve their position that Direct Express customers with claims as alleged in this case cannot be identified without an intense file-by-file review and overwhelming individual inquiry," the proposed settlement states.
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Bank stocks reflect optimism from recent federal jobs report
A positive June 7 federal jobs report led to bank stocks advancing, with the
Analysts said the favorable data reflects employer confidence in growth and continued economic strength in 2024 after a solid gross domestic product performance last year. A sturdy economy typically empowers borrowers to make loan payments, and banks, in turn, report low levels of credit losses.
"The U.S. economy continues to be resilient," Henk Potts, market strategist at Barclays Private Bank, recently told American Banker's
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Mastercard's plans to coordinate digital payments and crypto
Mastercard says that it can create parity between digital and cryptocurrency payment methods, and to this end it is adding its scale and name recognition to cryptocurrency credentials, an older concept that attempts to ease the manner in which people identify the rails involved in cryptocurrency payments.
Mastercard's crypto credentials employ an alias that crypto exchanges use to process cryptocurrency payments, replacing the blockchain addresses that are normally used. A
"There are multiple blockchains out there, all operating on the premise that there is a decentralized infrastructure to provide access," Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard, recently told American Banker's
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