Regional banks

The Cincinnati-based bank has partnered with the fintech Trust & Will to make estate planning easy, accessible — and free.

The sixth-largest U.S. bank has big plans to grow its private bank by developing young talent, as it prepares to target many of the hottest markets for young wealth.

The growth opportunity is there, the brand trust is there, the clients are there — it’s the banks that are largely absent.

Joe Skarda, who was previously managing director of JPMorgan Chase’s U.S. wealth management central division, will oversee a unit that houses Key’s private bank, family wealth and mass affluent business segments.

Acquisitions of wealth management, insurance, fintech and other firms are expected to pick up as banks seek new sources of fee income and look to improve digital capabilities.

Several companies said this week they’re slashing expenses as the economy limps along. Others would prefer to keep investing in new technologies to better gauge which changes in consumer behavior will stick.

While many institutions are taking protective steps, others want to stay open to promote public confidence in the banking system.

The Massachusetts senator asked Richard Fairbank in a letter why the bank didn’t detect the breach for nearly four months and how it plans to prevent future cyber intrusions.

Shareholders of both companies will meet separately next month to cast ballots on the $28 billion deal, and BB&T investors will also decide whether the new company should be called Truist Financial.

Truliant Federal Credit Union claims that the BB&T-SunTrust post-merger brand represents trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Judging by day one on social media, you’d think the new Truist brand was a flop. But marketing and branding experts say the name has a lot going for it. What matters most will be how the two banks advocate for the name.

The combined company will be known as Truist, which plays off “trust,” a word the banks’ original names had in common.

It took less than six months to hammer out the biggest bank merger in more than a decade, and the price was one of the last things discussed, according to a new federal filing.

The biggest bank merger in 10 years makes a lot of sense at the top levels, but some advisors may find their new home restrictive, an observer says.

The stars aligned for the two longtime rivals to join forces, and some observers speculate that other regional banks will need to strike similar partnerships if they hope to remain competitive. But others say such deals are rare because they're hard to pull off.

The industry's largest acquisition in more than a decade will create the sixth-biggest bank in the country, with assets of more than $442 billion.

A total of 86 publicly traded companies approved new repurchase plans so far this year. That’s nearly twice as many as all of 2017.

Copying big banks, smaller institutions are pairing with robos to meet changing mass-affluent preferences in long-term investment products.