Bank channel

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd on Wednesday endorsed a proposal to force banks to spin off their derivatives desks, saying Sen. Blanche Lincoln's primary win this week had increased odds some form of it would be in the final regulatory reform bill.

Minor changes to the newly public company are mostly positive, but most expect business as usual at the giant broker-dealer.

After tumultuous year, Clay Deutsch will replace Timothy L. Vaill as the company’s chief executive officer on July 31.

Though the reform bill wending its way through Congress will have little direct impact on regional banks' capital markets business, it could spur more competition from larger rivals.

Interviews with analysts, industry representatives, academics and other sources point to a growing consensus on how some of these issues will play out.

Bank holding companies’ insurance income grew by 38.5% last year, but only a fraction of that came from traditional sales.

The comapnies announced Friday an agreement to jointly develop, sell and support managed investment account services, using GlobalBridge’s unified managed account technology.

Midwestern banks are going after talent and customers in small and midsize business lending, treasury services, automotive lending and other areas where a lot of competition has disappeared since the recession struck.

Rising costs and adjusted benefits don’t put annuity buyers off.

Advisor Alliance, will allow Merrill Lynch advisors to sell recordkeeping and retirement plan administration services to small business owners.

JPMorgan, consistently one of the top municipal bond underwriters, has been responding to increased appetite in the market recently by expanding its retail networks, marketing taxable munis for international distribution, and bulking up its public finance staff.

Sen. Richard Durbin's interchange amendment specifies that the Federal Reserve Board would draw up regulations limiting debit fees, but many observers agree the new consumer protection regulator — not the Fed — could end up with the ultimate authority over the rules.

With the quest for new sources of earnings getting all the more urgent, banks are still looking for ways to squeeze more business out of every customer they can.

The battle over the final regulatory reform will just be a prologue to the longer and much more complicated fight over how the legislation will be implemented.

Kehrer-LIMRA’s latest annuity forum finds bankers are optimistic about indexed annuities, too.

The Obama administration continued to push its priorities Thursday on what provisions should be included in the final regulatory reform bill.

The battle over an amendment to establish minimum capital requirements in the regulatory reform bill is the result of a long-standing feud between the FDIC and the Fed.

Fixed and variable annuities and mutual funds all rise at the end of the first quarter, but will the run last?

Company plans to build ties with RIAs and breakaway brokers nationally.

While all of the big banks have repurchased or converted preferred stock, and two-thirds of the regionals have followed suit, community banks are expected to hold the vast majority of unpaid Tarp funds on their balance sheets by the program's two-year anniversary.