Community banks tapped the brakes during the first quarter, citing higher interest rates, recession threats and fallout from regional-bank failures. Fed data shows the trend has continued into May, and executives are preaching caution.

Delinquency rates in credit cards, auto and personal loans are effectively back to normal after three years of unusually strong credit performance. Industry executives say the current situation is easily manageable, but they do anticipate that key metrics will continue to worsen.

The Philadelphia-based company will eliminate an undisclosed number of jobs as part of a plan to refocus on core business lines and markets, CEO Thomas Geisel said.

At the embattled Republic First Bancorp, elevated legal, professional and audit fees also contributed to a nearly $10 million in first-quarter loss but CEO Thomas Geisel reports signs of progress moving past "legacy headwinds."

As the Wall Street giant continues to scale back its consumer banking ambitions, the point-of-sale loan provider that it purchased in 2022 could be the latest target. And CEO David Solomon said there might be more moves ahead.

The North Carolina bank's new financing program will allow electric car buyers to include the cost of an at-home charging station in their auto loan.

After soured loans rose above the private student lender's expectations in 2022, its stock price fell 16% on Thursday. One analyst wrote that "persistent credit issues have damaged management's credibility."

In a reversal from five years ago, six of the eight biggest U.S. banks by branch count now offer the loans, which observers see as safer alternatives to payday loans.

Indexes show heightened expectations for a recession and souring loans. But executives are upbeat about middle-market businesses and overall job growth.

Members of the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee expect gross domestic product to stall in 2023. Other surveys show a modest contraction. Lenders say sentiment among their borrowers also points to a slight slowdown.

The declining credit quality included more borrowers with higher credit scores falling behind on their credit card payments. But executives said the increase remains within expectations as it continues seeing "very linear normalization" in credit.

Goldman Sachs provided more details on its pullback from its once-grand ambitions to expand into consumer finance. Though parts of that strategy will remain, the New York bank will halt its personal loan business and postpone offering a checking account for its wealth management customers.

Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the bank is "not making rapid progress" and hinted at the possibility of additional restrictions. But analysts saw positives for Wells in the $3.7 billion consent order.

Dicier credit conditions, recession fears and tougher regulatory scrutiny combined to weaken merger activity in 2022. A push for scale is bound to resume when interest rates level off — at least among smaller banks, analysts say.

In a new survey, executives at banks and credit unions registered the highest level of anxiety about a forthcoming data-collection rule in small-business lending.

Kearny Financial is partially restructuring its balance sheet in response to a problem that many banks are facing. The bank's actions should result in a sizeable income boost once they're fully phased in, an analyst said.

An administrative law judge has recommended that a trio of onetime Wells executives be ordered to pay a combined $18.5 million in connection with the bank's fake-accounts scandal.

Roughly 40,000 residents of Moore County have been left without power since Saturday, when gunfire damaged two substations. Financial institutions are urging residents to use online banking and call centers if they do not have access to a branch.

In an appeals court filing, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wrote that a federal judge "ignored regulatory text, history and context" when she ruled against a PNC customer. The consumer argues that the bank shouldn't have pulled funds from his checking account after he was tardy in making payments on his home equity line of credit.

Lenders that offer streamlined refinances in the future shouldn't be required to consider the borrower's income or employment status, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group's comments were part of its response to a request for information on mortgage products that would support the financial stability of households.