News
"Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule that would accelerate a shift toward open banking, where consumers would have control over data about their financial lives and would gain new protections against companies misusing their data. The proposed Personal Financial Data Rights rule activates a dormant provision of law enacted by Congress more than a decade ago.
It would jumpstart competition by forbidding financial institutions from hoarding a person's data and by requiring companies to share data at the person's direction with other companies offering better products. The proposed rule would allow people to break up with banks that provide bad service and would forbid companies that receive data from misusing or wrongfully monetizing the sensitive personal financial data."
"The New Haven Bank is opening its second branch this fall. The new branch will open at 636 Campbell Ave. in West Haven. Maureen A. Frank, President and Chief Executive Officer, told the Hartford Business Journal that the new branch will be open either later this month or in early November."
"The Senate voted 53-44 Wednesday to overturn a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule requiring personal information on small-business borrowers, including race and sex, from the financial institutions that lend to them.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY., touted the resolution introduced by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., under the Congressional Review Act as striking a blow to President Joe Biden's regulators. Resolutions under the CRA require only a simple majority in the Senate."
"Lawmakers and representatives of the community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, bemoaned potential obstacles and cuts to government funding of those institutions during a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
A Biden administration proposal to overhaul the certification process for CDFIs — as well as potential cuts to the CDFI fund proposed by some Republican lawmakers — came under fire at a Senate Banking subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were broadly supportive of the public mission of CDFIs, and pushed back on any incursion into their funding or certification."
On October 17, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development met to conduct a hearing entitled, 'How Community Development Financial Institutions Promote Housing and Economic Opportunity.'
The witnesses included representatives of CDFIs focused on serving rural and native communities. CDBA member United Bank (AL) was called out by Senator Britt (AL) as an example of CDFI excellence. Senator Britt begins speaking at 01:21:03 in the linked video above.
"Just one remarkably memorable event in Darrin Williams' lifetime, in this case flying into his hometown on Air Force One with the president of the United States, Williams' wife and 6-month-old child on board, for a national celebration to recognize the Little Rock Nine and the 40th anniversary of the desegregation of Central High in Little Rock, would probably be enough for most folks. Williams has a closet full of such memorable encounters not unlike that leading up to his current role as chief executive officer of Little Rock's Southern Bancorp, a $2.5 billion institution with plans to double that over the next five years."
"Though banks have recently been churning out their highest profits in more than a decade, there's trouble brewing beneath the rosy performance metrics, according to the consulting firm McKinsey.
The threat is largely tied to the ongoing shift of balance-sheet activities and transactions away from traditional banks to nonbank institutions, McKinsey warns in its 2023 annual review of global banking. That migration has gained such scale that banking is now at 'a tipping point' that could 'fundamentally alter the nature' of the industry, the McKinsey report states."
"Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are vital investors in cities across America, but could they have a greater impact if they better pulled in dollars from public finance sources?
As long-standing lenders with a mission, CDFIs specialize in providing loans to individuals, organizations, and businesses in under-resourced or disadvantaged rural and urban communities often underserved by mainstream banks. They also provide other forms of fair, responsible financing that further economic potential. CDFIs can also function as trusted intermediaries that invest in a wide range of important sectors like housing, infrastructure, small businesses, and others."
"CFPB recently analyzed the non-sufficient fund (NSF) fee practices of a number of banks and credit unions. NSF fees are charges that some financial institutions impose when they decline to make a payment from a consumer's account, like a check or electronic authorization, after determining the account lacks sufficient funds. NSF fees are distinct from overdraft fees, which financial institutions charge when they pay, rather than decline, a payment when the account lacks sufficient funds."
"The changing economic environment is opening a window of opportunity for banks and credit unions to put their artificial intelligence models for loan underwriting through a credit cycle.
The digital banking evolution in the past decade has significantly enriched data around consumer profiles and behaviors. It has incubated a group of financial technology vendors to develop AI underwriting models for banks and credit unions. Since most of them were established in a benign environment, early adopters are now looking to validate their AI models in the current dynamics with the downside risks leading to credit deterioration being high."