It sounds like a riddle, but in fact, the U.S. lost more than 900 bank branches during calendar 2024 according to FDIC data. According to that same FDIC data, more than 900 new bank branches opened their doors as well. Strange perhaps,…
Largest Bank Acquisitions of 2024
Not including banks acquired by credit unions, more than 75 banks, with assets exceeding $70 billion, were lost to other banks during calendar year 2024. Nearly 70% of the acquired assets are represented in the top 10, which are noted…
What Will Happen to CD Rates in 2025?
The Fed’s latest dot plot suggests we could end 2025 with the Fed Funds rate under 4%. You guessed it. CD rates will closely follow. Forecasts beyond 1 year are less reliable, but still suggest that more easing will be…
Christmas Price Index Noses Out Consumer Price Index
It’s hard to believe, but another year is about to be behind us. Before it goes, we’d like to revisit (as we do every year) the PNC Bank CPI (Christmas Price Index). It’s a whimsical take on the 12 Days of…
New Credit Union Star Ratings and Data Now Available
All star-ratings (banks and credit unions) have now been updated based on September 30, 2024 financial data. Two items really stood out in the new credit union data: a rise in delinquencies and charge-offs as well as an indication that…
Community Banks ARE Lending, New Bank Star-Ratings
We’ve been hard at work at Bauer (not just eating turkey and watching football) updating bank star-ratings based on September 30, 2024 financial data. We expect to have credit union ratings out shortly. In the meantime, let’s talk about how…
7 Tips to Avoid Becoming a Victim This Season
If you are shopping online this season, the FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (a division of Homeland Security) have some suggestions on how to keep your personal information safe from “want-to-be-thieves”. It is good advice for anytime of…
Thanksgiving Dinner to Cost 5% less than Last Year
2024 marks the 39th year the American Farm Bureau Federation has conducted its informal survey on the price of a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. What they discovered was, in spite of a second consecutive drop in the cost, we are still…
Subpar Credit Unions with Uninsured Deposits
During the 12-month period ending June 30, 2024, uninsured shares and deposits at our nation’s credit unions increased to nearly $170 billion. Roughly $1.5 billion of those uninsured deposits are at credit unions that are deemed less-than-Well-Capitalized by regulatory standards.…
New 5-Star Bank Branch Coming
Since January 1, 2023, 475 5-Star community banks have opened nearly 600 branch offices. Those with four or more new “organic” branches during 2023/2024 are highlighted in this article. Those with two or three new branches can be found on…