CEOs on the hot seat. Banks fighting to stay independent. Comfortable players ripe for disruption from Amazon and others. It is shaping up as a riveting year.
Linda Lacewell replaces Maria Vullo as New York’s chief financial regulator; the Swiss bank is reportedly talking to Christian Meissner about a senior role.
Two trends — competition from challenger banks and the emergence of real-time payments — threaten to eat away at the fees banks collect on overdrafts and bounced checks.
Several fintechs are testing apps that let customers gain more say over how third parties use their data — and hope to one day be able to give them the power to revoke access to it entirely.
The year saw anxiety over how banks would respond to record consumer debt, disruptive glitches at TD Bank and SunTrust, ongoing scandal at Wells Fargo, and much, much more.
The cost of Wells Fargo's scandals continues to rise as regulators from all 50 states forced the institution to pay hundreds of millions in penalties for the creation of fake accounts, improper enrollment in life insurance, force-placed auto insurance policies and other activities.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called top executives from the six largest U.S. banks over the weekend, he said Sunday on Twitter, a move that followed heavy losses in the stock market last week and a partial federal government shutdown.
Regulators give OK, but find “shortcomings” that need to be addressed; Labor Department says the bank is laying off U.S. workers while hiring overseas.
