Commercial banking

Ratings are holding up but global economic prospects dim

Kurt Schacht is the executive director of the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council. During his tenure he has overseen CFA Institute's global policy research, standards and government relations in New York, London, Brussels and Hong Kong. He managed the activities of the Global Investment Performance Standards, the CFA Institute Asset Manager Code and the Financial Analysts Journal.

Olivier Fines, CFA, is head of advocacy and policy research for EMEA at the CFA Institute. He leads the effort in researching and commenting on the major trends that affect the investment management industry as well as changes to the profession and policy and regulatory developments. 

Given FHFA Director Bill Pulte's history of making regulatory pronouncements via X, some theorize the release of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could occur in the same way.

Proceeds in part fund dividend for new private equity owner

The methodology combines existing ABS and CMBS analyses

The student loan giant fell far short of Wall Street's expectations, but its leaders say President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is likely to bring it billions of dollars in new business.

The case pitted high-profile senior-tranche investors like PIMCO against junior bondholders the interpretation of contracts that predated later policy changes.

President Trump and Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., visited the Federal Reserve Board headquarters Thursday afternoon to inspect ongoing renovations whose cost overruns have heightened scrutiny of Fed chair Jerome Powell.

The two Southeast banks agreed to combine in a transaction valued at $8.6 billion. Synovus CEO Kevin Blair would be chief executive of the combined bank, but a slim majority of board members would come from Pinnacle.

Eric Ludwig is assistant professor of retirement income and RICP program director at The American College of Financial Services, as well as CEO of Stockbridge Private Wealth Management. His research focuses on retirement income planning strategies and behavioral finance.

The massively oversubscribed deal repays existing notes and extends the floater

Flagstar Bank wants to merge its holding company into the bank, which would cut $15 million in annual expenses and eliminate regulatory oversight by the Federal Reserve, leaving the OCC as its primary regulator. The bank's CEO, Joseph Otting, is a former comptroller of the currency.

Habib's placement on the Fannie Mae board comes after he criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in a Linkedin post.

Scott Smith is co-founder and chief operating officer at Fizz, a money app for students. He previously studied finance, economics, accounting and real estate at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

Fannie Mae also foresees more home sales than it did in June, but the Mortgage Bankers Association reduced its origination projections for 2025.

Patrick Nelli is the CEO & Founder of Aligned Marketplace. Prior to Aligned Marketplace, Patrick spent a decade at Health Catalyst (HCAT), a data and analytics company focused on supporting some of the largest healthcare organizations in the country, where he was President and Chief Financial Officer and helped take the company public. At Health Catalyst, he helped build value-based care analytics for some of the largest ACOs in the country in pursuit of Health Catalyst's mission to deliver data-informed improvement. Patrick's passion is to drive as much healthcare improvement as possible through innovation.

Under the ticker JABS, the fund will invest in high-quality, investment grade securitized assets meant to give retail investors access to high-quality and short duration assets.

The portfolio consists of first-lien, fixed-rate and interest-only balloon RTLs. They were originated with original terms of six to 24 months to maturity.

The agreement with D2 Asset Management doubles the firm's previous commitment to Unlock, as current economic trends provide momentum for the growing sector.