Strong mortgage and capital markets activity helped offset credit costs and one-time items in the third quarter at Citizens Financial Group. In a period of low rates, CEO Bruce Van Saun says he’d like to buy more fee-generating businesses.
The fees have helped banks recoup costs of free or low-cost checking accounts for decades, but they can penalize low-income customers and drive them away from banking. Is there a better way?
The company and its global peers have seen their profitability hurt by half a decade of negative interest rates, which effectively make banks pay for holding clients’ cash.
If Congress wants to provide better access to banking services for low-income and rural Americans, they would be wise to consider financial services partners that operate as a not-for-profit model.
Late fees on loan payments and late-arriving documents tied to forbearance and loan forgiveness are just some examples of how delays caused by cutbacks at the U.S. Postal Service could affect lenders and their customers.
The regulator announced in June it would use call report data from before the crisis to calculate bank assessment fees in September, a one-time change.
The company has established a fund that will provide capital, technical assistance and long-term recovery support to small businesses, especially minority-owned companies. The other megabanks are expected to donate their fees, also.
Past is not prologue, and a successful strategy for becoming a top-performing bank in 2020 is very different than it might have been just six months ago.
