A record 22 credit unions announced plans to acquire banks in 2024, though the year ended on a discordant note as regulatory concerns appear to have derailed a planned CU-bank deal in Georgia.

Richard "Dick" Parsons, the former Citigroup chairman who died Thursday, is credited with helping the New York megabank survive the financial crisis. Earlier in his career, he led Dime Savings Bank out of the savings-and-loan crisis.

The Seattle-based company's deal with Bank of America comes five weeks after the termination of its planned sale to FirstSun Capital Bancorp in Denver.

The watchdog accuses Rocket Homes and The Mitchell Group brokerage of initiating a plan to generate origination business for Rocket Mortgage.

Affirm partners with Sixth Street to sell its buy now/pay later loans to the investment firm; Associated Banc-Corp promotes Steven Zandpour to deputy head of consumer and business banking; Visa Direct speeds up its money transfers; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Franklin Templeton Investments Chief Executive Officer Jenny Johnson said she's concerned that some investment- and non-investment-grade private credit assets are trading at the same spreads as traditional fixed-income investments like corporate bonds.

Public-finance repair should be prioritized before alarm among bond investors takes hold, the Bank for International Settlements said.

The company's closure comes in a year when it touted successful capital investments but also faced growing legal scrutiny.

Rocket argues it was unfairly tied to discrimination accusations, arguing the government aimed for "headline-grabbing claims" to bolster its case.

The Florida-based brokerage The Okavage Group is challenging the dismissal of its antitrust suit against UWM, filing an appeal on Oct. 17 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.