Daily Brief · August 11, 2026
Exam actions, bank acquisitions and payment rails
Regulators tightened bank-specific constraints while HBT pursued scale and payment and funding rails changed.
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Bank-specific regulatory constraints
First Guaranty Bank entered a consent order with lending limits
The FDIC and Louisiana's Office of Financial Institutions order restricts additional credit to certain criticized or charged-off borrowers despite reported progress reducing nonperforming and criticized loans. American Banker reported the bank still needs to satisfy a Tier 1 leverage capital requirement, and a branch sale completed last week should move it closer to that consent-order threshold.
Source: American Banker
Bunq’s U.S. charter application was denied
The OCC said the application did not show bunq US Bank could operate safely and soundly, citing supervisory and compliance deficiencies. Banking Dive reported additional OCC concerns over capitalization, management experience and an unrealistic path to profit, preserving uncertainty around Bunq’s U.S. market-entry strategy.
Sources: American Banker, Banking Dive
Scale and portfolio strategy
HBT Financial agreed to buy Tri-County Financial Group
The cash-and-stock transaction is valued at about $204.6 million and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. If completed, it would lift HBT’s assets to roughly $8.3 billion, add a stable deposit base and move the company closer to the $10 billion-asset threshold.
Source: American Banker
Fiserv and FIS are reviewing business-unit options
American Banker reported Fiserv is considering a sale of the Star debit routing network, with Jana pressing Fiserv to review and potentially spin off more businesses. The same report said FIS is reviewing parts of its capital markets business, tying both reviews to portfolio simplification and valuation pressure at large bank technology vendors.
Source: American Banker
Funding and payment rails
Federal Reserve simplified Borrower in Custody mechanics
The update is part of discount-window modernization and lets depository institutions pledge loans they hold in custody as collateral for discount-window credit using easier forms, online collateral schedules, simplified compliance instructions and restructured inspections. Most institutions will no longer need pre-enrollment inspections, reducing operational friction in liquidity preparedness.
Source: ABA Banking Journal
RTP loosened rules for foreign-bank cross-border payments while FedNow increased its international focus
American Banker reported RTP is also launching a bank pilot for cross-border use cases, a potential last-mile extension for real-time rails beyond domestic transactions.
Source: American Banker