TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Citigroup Inc. has sent a so-called standing letter to the Texas Attorney General's office last month to verify its compliance with the state's new law that prohibits banks that have taken restrictive gun policies from doing business there, specifically underwriting municipal bond sales, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
* The U.S. Education Department is cutting ties with private collection agencies that recover payments for defaulted federal student loans, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the department's Federal Student Aid COO Richard Cordray. The COO said that collection for those loans will be handled by five private contractors the department hired to provide borrowers with more support, according to the report.
➤ Fed's taper plan hammers odds of near-term interest rate hike
The Federal Reserve's long-awaited tapering announcement has eliminated the probability of a near-term interest rate hike, according to a key measure of investors' expectations.
➤ LatAm financial sector sees fewer capital offerings in Q3
Capital issuances for the financial sector in select Latin American economies during the third quarter were at their lowest during the year with fewer transactions and lower amounts.
BANKING
* OceanFirst Financial Corp.'s announced acquisition of Partners Bancorp will grow its commercial banking business, expand its branch footprint and add talented lenders, but improving Partners' operating leverage will be central to successfully achieving the targeted financial metrics, OceanFirst's CEO said.
* Virginia-based Blue Ridge Bankshares Inc. and FVCBankcorp Inc. disclosed that certain regulatory concerns with Blue Ridge Bank NA could affect the application process and timing of their proposed merger of equals.
* DeForest, Wis.-based Heritage CU intends to merge with in-state peer Connexus CU. The merger is pending approval from Heritage members on Jan. 3, 2022.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Square Inc. will exclusively focus on the bitcoin stack when it comes to consumer-oriented services around digital assets. "Our focus is on helping Bitcoin to become the native currency for the Internet," CEO Jack Dorsey said on the company's third-quarter earnings call.
* Victory Capital Holdings Inc. agreed to acquire Charlotte, N.C.-based WestEnd Advisors LLC. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2021 and be immediately accretive to earnings.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said consumer reporting companies that use "shoddy name-matching procedures" are violating the law, saying these practices undermine the recovery of the housing and labor markets and may cause "significant harms" to applicants.
* U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, during the Securities Enforcement Forum, said his agency will pursue both "high-impact" cases and "everyday fraudsters" alike in terms of enforcement. "We'll use all of the tools in our toolkit to investigate wrongdoing and hold bad actors accountable," Gensler stated.
* Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has lifted a moratorium that had prevented regulated institutions from increasing dividends and executive compensation, as well as undertaking share repurchases. The measures were imposed in March 2020 following the onset of the pandemic.
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