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This ABA Banking Journal newsletter is a free, twice-monthly supplement to the ABA Banking Journal magazine intended to help you stay on top of industry and policy news.
You can also stay abreast of banking news by visiting aba.com/BankingJournal, home to ABA Daily Newsbytes stories, digital exclusives, the ABA Banking Journal Podcast and more.
A recent study of community development financial institution small-dollar loans to microbusinesses found that most borrowers improved their business outcomes, although some entrepreneurs struggled with managing their debt.
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The percentage of U.S. consumers saying they have used “buy now pay later” payment options in the past 90 days grew to 37% in 2025, which is five percentage points higher than last year, according to a new survey by J.D. Power.
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Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January 2026, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $733.5 billion, down 0.2% from the previous month, and up 3.2% from January 2025.
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The PHSI is a leading indicator of housing activity and measures housing contract activity, based on signed real estate contracts for existing single-family homes, condos and co-ops.
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On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Rob Nichols offers his top takeaways from the ABA Washington Summit — including industry unity on stablecoin regulation, credit card policy challenges, federal preemption, and bipartisan legislation on fraud. Nichols also previews his upcoming travel to Vienna for the United Nations’ Global Fraud Summit.
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For financial institutions, combining clear education with responsible products and transparent customer support can help consumers navigate recovery.
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The American Bankers Association today announced that its widely used Fraud Contact Directory is now open to international banks, marking a significant expansion of one of the banking industry’s key tools for combating fraud. The announcement was made by ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols and ABA EVP Paul Benda at the U.N. Global Fraud Summit in Vienna, Austria.
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Financial institutions are managing larger vendor inventories with leaner teams while confronting emerging risks, such as those presented by artificial intelligence, according to a new report on third-party risk management by the compliance platform provider Ncontracts.
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Total fraud losses reported by adults 60 and over exploded from $600 million in 2020 to $2.4 billion in 2024. It’s a pressing problem that affects banks, customers and the economy, and the challenge is immense.
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control has authorized Russian oil exports through April 11 to ease pressure on rising fuel prices following the start of military operations in Iran.
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Lawmakers should “use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer” as they seek to update the key federal law regulating how banks and other financial institutions safeguard their customers’ data, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) said today.
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A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must continue funding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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