County Bancorp is a small dairy lender in Wisconsin with an exposure to milk prices, and Bank OZK is a larger bank in Arkansas coping with out-of-market real estate trends. Their stories show how market sensitivities can vex specialists.
After rising between 2016 and 2018, the card issuer's charge-off rates are now steady. The trend reflects both the impact of tighter underwriting standards and the continued resilience of U.S. consumers.
While executives at the Buffalo, N.Y., bank said they would take a closer look at spending, especially given the potential for interest rate cuts, they described investments in tech talent as an essential cost of doing business.
The company, which announced the conclusion of a three-year-old credit card partnership with TD Bank, is shifting to digital financing of individual consumer purchases.
