Banking & Finance

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how banks operate, but it is not triggering a widespread reduction in finance jobs. Despite highly visible layoffs over the past year, overall employment across major banking institutions has remained largely steady. Several large banks have even increased headcount, particularly in corporate and operational roles, signaling that AI is being used to improve efficiency and absorb workload growth rather than replace employees outright...

PayPal Holdings, Inc. has submitted applications to U.S. regulators to establish PayPal Bank, a proposed Utah-chartered industrial loan company, marking a step toward bringing more of its small-business financial services in-house. The filings were made with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and would allow PayPal to operate a regulated banking entity focused on business lending...

Agentic AI is beginning to reshape how banks run frontline relationship management, according to recent research from McKinsey, with early adopters reporting measurable gains in productivity, revenue per relationship manager, and cost efficiency. Unlike earlier AI tools focused on analytics or content generation, agentic systems are designed to take action—prioritizing prospects, coordinating outreach, preparing client meetings, and managing routine follow-up with limited human input...

The European Central Bank (ECB) warns that the risk of major economic, financial market, and banking system shocks has reached an unprecedented high. It attributes this heightened vulnerability to geopolitical tensions, shifting trade policies, climate and nature-related crises, demographic pressures, and rapid technological change. According to the ECB, these forces are increasing structural fragilities and making disruptions more likely...

U.S. regulators have approved new final rules that ease leverage requirements for large banks, reducing the amount of capital they must hold against low-risk assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation cleared the updated “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio,” with other regulators expected to follow. An FDIC memo estimated that the revised standard will lower total capital needs for major institutions by approximately $13 billion, or less than 2%...

Middle-market CFOs are confronting growing pressure to modernize how their companies connect to banking partners, as fragmented file formats, manual uploads, and one-off integrations continue to strain treasury operations. Industry commentary from FIS points to a common pain point: ERP systems were never built for seamless multibank connectivity, leaving firms with costly, fragile links that limit cash visibility and slow decision-making...

Deloitte projects that 2026 could be a critical year for U.S. banks as they navigate macroeconomic uncertainty, persistent inflation, and evolving competition from nonbank players. While strong capital buffers provide resilience, banks may still face pressure on margins and income, prompting them to diversify fee-based businesses and fortify their deposit strategies...

AI adoption is reshaping finance functions as organizations move beyond pilot programs toward practical applications. A McKinsey survey of 102 CFOs found that 44% used generative AI across more than five use cases in 2025, compared to just 7% in 2024. Finance teams are deploying AI to improve forecasting accuracy, monitor working capital in real time, and accelerate reporting cycles...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced plans to rescind its Nonbank Registry Rule (NBR Rule), which required nonbank financial companies that violated consumer laws and were subject to court or government orders to report those actions to a bureau registry. The CFPB said the decision reflects concerns that the rule’s compliance costs—potentially passed on to consumers—outweigh its unquantified benefits...

Plaid has appointed Seun Sodipo as Chief Financial Officer as the fintech company continues expanding its products across credit, anti-fraud, and payments. Sodipo, a former Stripe Executive and CFO of beauty brand Glossier, described her appointment as a defining moment for the company. She succeeds Eric Hart, who served as Plaid’s first CFO before returning to Expedia earlier this year...