Bank channel

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.

U.S. Trust plans on hiring over 200 people in 2010 in order to expand its wealth management team.

Troubled debt restructurings are on the rise, and they're causing regulatory headaches for bankers worried about how to properly designate and disclose the modified loans.

The Senate voted Thursday evening to approve a historic financial regulatory reform bill that would make sweeping changes in how the financial system is regulated.

Many small banks haven’t yet taken out bank-owned life insurance on their key players, creating a sales opportunity for canny advisors.

For the last two decades Wells has thrived by combining rapid-fire acquisitions with an impressive ability to sell its retail customer base more products than other banks could. Now it is betting it can wring the same results out of commercial banking, and on a nationwide scale.

Royal Bank of Canada says it feels no added pressure to resume U.S. acquisitions despite aggressive moves by a major Canadian competitor.

Scott Barnes, now chairman of IPI, will expand the firm’s trust and consulting operations.

Financial institutions are sounding the alarm over an amendment to the Senate bill that many initially deemed harmless but now see as threatening a key source of capital: trust-preferred securities.

New distribution momentum in bank brokerages and other intermediary channels is a source of good news for T. Rowe, which has been successfully rebuilding its assets under management while it expands its presence overseas.

After spending more than a year and a half trying to launch the Municipal Infrastructure and Assurance Corp., executive vice president Richard ­Kolman Monday announced that he left the start-up bond insurer to join U.S. Bancorp, which is ­launching a muni underwriting business.