Banking

Community bankers are excited that the Federal Reserve is poised to raise interest rates, which would make loans more profitable — unless rates rise so much they suppress demand.

In a transaction that is expandable, Kapitus Asset Securitization will be able to periodically issue additional notes up to a maximum of $600 million.

The deal is the latest example of a mainstream bank buying a point-of-sale lender focused on financing home improvement projects.

The largest bank based in oil-rich Texas is building a framework for gauging the threat that climate change poses to its business and plans to disclose more information on the subject this summer. Meanwhile, its energy loan portfolio shrank 24% year over year.

President Biden’s aspirations for aggressive forgiveness haven’t been fulfilled to date, but steps taken so far have lowered a key hurdle to entry-level homeownership.

The company sold small businesses a credit-building product that fell short of its promises, and also failed to help them fix inaccuracies in their credit reports, according to the Federal Trade Commission. D&B has agreed to give refunds to many customers.

Initial overcollateralization is 15%, with a build up to a target equal to the minimum of 21.5% of the current pool balance, and 16.5% of the initial pool balance.

Potters, who has headed CMBS businesses at SocGen and Merrill Lynch, will focus on digital and automated commercial real estate loan securitizations.

The Secured Overnight Financing Rate has benefited — amid the phaseout of Libor — from positive comments by regulators. Is a multirate environment, which some banks would prefer, still possible?

Key retail vacancies, a drop in office occupancies, plus a combination of lower oil prices, a housing market oversupply — worsened by the coronavirus pandemic — caused loan-level performance issues.

The Alabama bank is buying Clearsight Advisors to add to its booming capital markets division.

More than 180 community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions will receive the federal funds under a pandemic-era program. “It’s a lifesaver,” a credit union CEO said.

The deal for Summit Financial furthers First Financial’s strategy of acquiring national niche business lines.

Business and regulatory pressures were already weighing on aging executives before the onset of the pandemic led many to delay retirement plans. Now as the crisis eases, an increasing number are finally stepping down.

In a semiannual report on trouble spots in the banking sector, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency raised concerns that banks are taking on too much risk in pursuit of earnings growth.

After Democrats failed last year to rally support for a federal 36% limit, House and Senate proponents are trying to capitalize on the momentum from state rate caps that recently passed on a bipartisan basis.

The deal’s sponsor has issued a small rated portion to investors and sold the remainder back to loan-originator.

The sponsor’s Fortune 500 parent provides comfort in the face of the subprime-auto industry’s woes.

In a letter to the agency’s new director, top Senate Democrats recommended policy steps intended to limit mistakes in consumers’ credit files that they said “can ruin lives.”

Trustmark Bank agreed to pay $9 million to resolve allegations that it discriminated against Black and Hispanic residents in Memphis, Tennessee. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice and other agencies will continue their crackdown.