Why banks sell insurance arms; Navy Federal to be on bases

Banks' insurance units are fetching top dollar, but selling brings risk: M&T Bank, Truist Financial and Eastern Bankshares are among the banks that have sold all or part of their insurance subsidiaries over the last year. Though the price is right, analysts warn that when interest rates decline, sellers will be without a key source of fee income.

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Navy Federal encounters rough seas after winning military contract: The world's biggest credit union will become the provider of banking services for U.S. armed forces members abroad, stepping into a void left by Bank of America. One credit union trade group is concerned that a potential deposit insurance snafu could threaten the program's viability.

CFPB plans to hire 50% more enforcement attorneys, support staff: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to hire 75 employees in its enforcement division as it boosts investigations against "large market actors," according to an internal email obtained by American Banker.

FDIC's McKernan questions rationale behind Basel endgame standards: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) board member Jonathan McKernan raised concerns Wednesday over his agency's justification for imposing higher capital on banks, saying they could give nonbanks a more competitive edge in certain activities.

Read more on bank regulation: Brown calls for regulators to look into alleged Wells Fargo labor violations; Fed's Bowman wants more research of regulatory thresholds, deposits

Banks looking to innovate want help from AI: Survey. A recent survey of financial institutions found that for smaller banks and credit unions, customer experience is once again a top priority and among all banks, the interest in advanced AI is higher than ever.

Read more about AI: Stripe's AI journey as both vendor and client

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